A WIRRAL society with the worst kept gardening secret in the North West is celebrating a trio of prestigious regional awards.

The 'Secret Gardens of Oxton’ have been visited by more than 50,000 people since they first opened in 2001, and raised just under £300,000 for many deserving local charities.

This year, for the first time, organisers, The Oxton Society, entered their event into the Britain in Bloom, North West, competition, held in association with the Royal Horticultural Society.

Judges awarded a Gold Medal in the Best Urban Community class for the village’s spectacular display of hanging baskets and a Certificate of Special Recognition, plus the Best Newcomer Trophy for the 2017 Secret Gardens Event.

The committee member responsible for the hanging baskets, John Booth and Jay Little, one of the organisers of the Secret Gardens event, collected the awards at the Southport Convention Centre before 300 fellow competitors from across Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire.

John said: "Britain in Bloom is said to offer the the most prestigious community, horticultural and environmental awards in the UK, so we were naturally delighted with the results.

"The awards are the result of a tremendous amount of voluntary work from a whole community dedicated to the conservation and improvement of a wonderful historic village." 

The Secret Gardens project acquired its name because most of the gardens that open for local charities are normally hidden to the public behind high sandstone walls cut from local quarries.

Over the years an increasing number of gardens-large and small – have joined the scheme which has previously collected awards from Wirral Council and Civic Voice.