THE annual judging of the three allotment sites in Crediton has taken place.

Penni Tearle, Chair of Boniface Allotment Association, explained that the Association was lucky to have been able to call on the expertise of Peter Burks, as judge.

Peter has a wealth of horticultural experience, having spent nearly 40 years working in the sector, heading up the “growing” side of various garden centres in the region and is now the CEO of the UK Garden Centre Association.

Penni said: “On one of those recent lovely sunny days Peter set about shortlisting and scoring the 146 allotments on the Exhibition Road and Barnfield sites.

“The plots which made the shortlist were awarded points out of 40 for overall impression, quality of plants, range of plants grown and innovative features.

“The overall winner, scoring 36 out of 40 was Richard Knowles, for his plot on the Exhibition Road site.

“Other prizewinners on that site were Sarah Bagwell (2nd) and Merv Kingdom (3rd).

“On the Barnfield site first place went to a couple new to the Crediton allotments, Sally and Paul Parkhouse, with Andreus Mikuskinas 2nd and Katie Johnson and Anthony Moss in third place; also new to the site this year.

“On the very small Moffats site Peter and Kay Burks with Jane Perry were picked as having the best plot, though Peter himself was not the judge of that!”

Crediton Town Council makes the 146 allotments available across the three sites, all within a short walk of the town centre.

Allotments are currently very popular, and so are now only being offered to people living within Crediton town boundaries.

Applications to go on the allotment waiting list should be made through the Town Council, by emailing: [email protected] or calling 01363 773717.

For further information, email: [email protected].