EVERYONE needs a bit of garden to look at, says Irene Blyth of Lymington.

When she moved into her new home in Emsworth Road, she didn't let her 82 years or severe arthritis stop her transforming a dead patch of earth into a little Eden.

Now - five years later - Irene is still toiling with a trowel, and her efforts have won her the title of Best Garden by a Disabled Person in the annual Lymington in Bloom Awards.

"I take a pride in my gardening, though my back doesn't like me doing it!" said Irene.

"When I came here there was nothing at all. I looked out of my window and thought it looked terrible.

"Now the garden is full of flowers and my neighbours think it looks lovely, if I do say so myself!"

Lymington in Bloom spokeswoman Valerie Horn said: "Irene has made a dear little garden, which everyone walking past can enjoy. She is one of the most worthy winners this year."

Another public-spirited plantsman is Chris Dyer of the Tollhouse Inn, Southampton Road.

He has won the Best Inn Frontage for the last three years running, so determined is he to give visitors a beautiful first glimpse of Lymington.

"We are on one of the main roads into the town, and it's nice for people to see the flowers," he said.

"Often they stop and have their photo taken in front of the inn."

And the froth of blossom outside Solent House Dental Surgery in Cannon Street must take some of the sting out of a visit to the dentist.

Receptionist Irene Wort said: "We have won a place in the top three in our category every year since the Lymington in Bloom Awards started.

"We all look after the plants between us. "Whoever is free nips out to do some watering and dead heading," she said.

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