Landscore won the Clem Preece Memorial cup for outstanding effort by a school and Hayward’s was awarded a special certificate.
Of Landscore the judge, Tony Moore, said the planting was a revelation and that rarely do they see school grounds so well adapted for teaching children about the natural environment, gardening, horticulture and animal care.
About Hayward’s Mr Moore said this was a rich environment and together they provided local children with great opportunities.
At the presentation evening at Landscore Old School on Monday evening (October 11), Mr Moore told Hayward’s to cherish its cob wall, often used by solitary bees.
He added that he had visited a number of schools and these two were both outstanding, two of the most impressive.
Debbie May, Landscore’s headteacher, said the garden was the work of teaching assistant Penny Powlesland. She added that every child gets to work in the garden. They also help look after the quail, chicken, rabbits and guinea pig which parents share during school holidays.
Britain in Bloom co-ordinator for Crediton, Mike Szabo, received the silver-gilt award in the Pennant (Town and City South) competition for the Crediton entry.
Bert Jewell, who looks after several displays, won a Community Champion award for his service to bloom.
Awards went to - Hillbrow Residential Care Home, Age Concern, Crediton Library Community Gardens, Boniface Rotary Club, Friends of Crediton Railway and the Friends of the Roundabout (for Tesco and Mole Avon etc). Mr Moore said this was a difficult site to work on with a great effort to make it more attractive.
Other awards went to Moffat Land Allotments, Green Fingers of Sandford (received by Graham Baker), Jockey Hill Gardeners, Friends of St Boniface Well (in Newcombes Meadow), Lennard Road Gardeners and Save the House Martins in Westernlea (encouraging people not to knock down their nests).
Also awarded was the Friends of the Town Square (including the small edible garden), Bowling Club and Keep Crediton Clean, where Mr Moore said keeping a place clean underpinned how people felt about their area.
Also awarded was Sustainable Crediton and the Tesco Pollinator Project, Sustainable Crediton Pollinators Group, which has been running for two years to encourage people to plant more for the pollinators.
Others included Crediton Lions Club (for the tub it cares for near Lloyds Bank), the Station Tea Rooms which The Turning Tides Project took over three years ago, Turning Tides Another Root.
Mike Szabo explained they used to have a double allotment and then had the chance to take over a long, narrow piece of land off Four Mills Lane that had not been used for around 50 years.
It is one-and-a-quarter miles long, an impressive area where, among all the planting, they have created a mini ampitheatre. It is kept locked. He added that to get mentioned was a huge accomplishment.
The list of awards ended with The Turning Tides Litter Pick and the St Lawrence Group.
With Bert Jewell’s Discretionary Award as a Community Champion, Mr Moore explained this goes to one or more individuals who have made a huge contribution to the campaign.
He said it became obvious Bert had put a huge effort into horticulture with his career and flower show work. “Behind every great gardener is a great wife and this goes to both of you,” he told Bert and Margaret Jewell.
Mr Moore added that for the silver-gilt award won by Crediton, the towns of Dartmouth, Ivybridge, Bere Alston and Bovey Tracey had been in the running. “You should be really proud of this,” he told the town.
Looking ahead to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year, Mr Moore suggested that sustainability would be the theme to interpret rather than vast quantities of bedding plants.
South West in Bloom covers a huge area, one of 18 regional and national competitions that make up Britain in Bloom, the biggest horticultural campaign in Europe.
It’s Your Neighbourhood is a unique scheme for volunteer-led community gardening projects and groups focused on improving their local environment through community gardening. Almost any outdoor site being looked after by the local community qualifies for this scheme.
It is an inclusive, non-competitive scheme, a group can be made up of any number of community volunteers.