Sevenoaks Scoops Three Golds at South & South East in Bloom, With an Attenborough Twist

Sevenoaks has come home from RHS Garden Wisley with three Gold awards and an 'Outstanding' rating, after judges spent the summer touring the town's parks, flowerbeds and community gardens for the South & South East in Bloom competition.

Judges toured Sevenoaks in July, taking in the town's open spaces and creative displays before the awards were handed out at Wisley on Friday 25 September. Three Gold medals went to Sevenoaks in Bloom's entries, and the Town Council's youth café, House in the Basement, was separately rated 'Outstanding' in the competition's 'It's Your Neighbourhood' category - a nod not just to gardening but to how a space is used by the community around it.

This year's entries were built around Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday, with Rockdale Village residents among those taking it furthest - building wildlife homes and Attenborough-themed flower beds alongside their usual gardening, and adding knitted and papier-mâché creations that judges singled out for praise. Eight local schools also took part through their own creative and environmental projects, alongside volunteer gardeners from Sevenoaks Soroptimists, the Sevenoaks Living Landscape Project and West Kent Housing.

Sevenoaks in Bloom is a separate competition from the one that crowned T. Allman Butchers and Edenbridge Beavers as this year's Edenbridge Gardens in Bloom winners - that's a town-level competition judged locally, while South & South East in Bloom is a regional RHS competition Sevenoaks entered as a whole town. Between them, two West Kent towns have had something to celebrate on the gardening front this September.

Mayor of Sevenoaks Cllr Victoria Granville said: "Congratulations to the Sevenoaks in Bloom team for winning three 'Gold' medals... House in the Basement's 'Outstanding' award reflects the contributions of manager Daren Mountain and all the young people involved. Above all, I commend Cllr Dr Merilyn Canet for leading the Sevenoaks in Bloom campaign." Anyone wanting to get involved in next year's entry can contact the Town Council's community engagement team. Source: Sevenoaks Town Council