Great Whittington - Great Whittington in Bloom

Great Whittington in Bloom

Great Whittington is a beautiful village and, just to prove it, in 2010 we won GOLD in the Northumberia in Bloom competition. In 2011 we have done even better as we have made it through to the finals of the Britain in Bloom competition. As one of only four small villages to make it through to the final we are so proud and are looking forward to making our village more beautiful than ever for 2011. Please join in and help us, we want all of the community to be involved.

Heritage Theme:

To improve our summer entry, we have chosen a heritage theme that will pull everything together whilst ticking several boxes on the marking sheet. The theme is:

"Welcome Home"

In 1944 the villagers started a Welcome Home Fund to raise money for our residents who fought in World War II. The fundraising continued after the war with the aim of providing the village with a hall that could be at the centre of the community. Eventually the old school building was purchased and became the village hall we are now hoping to renovate. Our theme will pay tribute to days gone by, the community spirit and old fashioned environmentally friendly gardening.

Summer Displays:

The planting in our display tubs will echo the colours to which our servicemen and women returned home:

Blue - for the sky

Yellow - for the sun and the crops in the fields

Green - for the grass around and within the village

White - for peace

Red - each tub will contain one red flower in remembrance of those villagers who did not return.

Wildflowers will be planted on shaded areas on the village green, poppies and forget-me-nots in particular will reflect our theme. Children will be encouraged to plant vegetables in the village hall garden just as they did when it was the school garden during the war.

The next judging for the Northumbria in Bloom competition will be on Friday 14th July at 2pm. Please put this date in your diary and, if you're around on the day, please come and chat to the judges as they make their rounds.

Ideas, help, donations and sponsorship are always needed. Please contact us on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for further information. This is our year, let's all work together to bring home the trophy!

In 2006, 2007 and 2008, we won silver awards and in 2009 we won silver gilt. Overall, the judges have been most impressed by the well cared for and attractive gardens, containers and hanging baskets. We have been complimented on the maintenance of the grass verges and for the extremely tidy state of the village as well as for the way we match our planting to the rural setting. However, there's much more to Northumbria in Bloom than just planting pretty flowers and we are always looking towards getting more community involvement and to improving both our village and our score in the competition. Who knows, maybe that gold standard is now within reach!

Tractor Tyre

Over the coming months we will continue with our efforts to make Great Whittington best village by working on conservation and wildlife areas as well as by improving sustainability and overall planting. In order to move up in the marking scheme, we need to show the judges how much we, as a communitiy, care for our environment. We need to get more people involved in the Northumbria in Bloom effort but not just by planting more flowers, we need to put more focus on conservation and recycling, things that make the environment better for all of us. If we can encourage the young people of the village to join in it will be enjoyable for them and we will certainly improve our marks overall. To show how gardening and conseravation can be fun, we intend to run some fun community projects, especially projects in which our young people can get involved.

Hanging baskets

And, in order to bring the community involvment to the judge's attention, a portfolio will be produced containing photographs of not only our excellent gardens but also the hard work we do around the village in order to make it so beautiful for the judging in spring and summer. So, if you have a gardening project that you think improves the village environment overall, please get in touch so that we can take before and after photographs. We may even be able to help with advice and maybe give a hand with some of the hard work. Perhaps you'd like to dig a pond, make a vegetable patch or install water butts and a compost heap. Maybe you'd like to take responsibility for a grass verge, a flowerbed or maybe one of the tubs in the village. Perhaps your garden isn't one of those along the main street but you'd like to bring it to the attention of the judges. All you need to do is to get in contact and we'll come and take photos for the portfoliio. If you'd like to join the Gardening Club or if you have any ideas for improving the overall look of the village, please get in touch. The more people who get involved the better, so, what are you waiting for, contact us on: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Please check out the rest of the links to see the judge's comments from previous years and see what we're aiming to do in the future. Hopefully these things will inspire you to join in!

GW in Bloom