NEWQUAY showed off the best of what it has to offer on Thursday as part of a prestigious annual competition.

South West in Bloom judges Tim Eley from Praa Sands and Ian Crawley from Babbacombe in Devon were given a tour of the town for the competition, which sees Newquay going for a 15th consecutive gold award.

The judges are shown the Rose Garden (Picture: Warren Wilkins) ( )

Newquay in Bloom chair Barbara Hannan and vice chair Bob Ollier accompanied Tim and Ian on the visit to help them judge the town’s horticulture, environment and community.

The tour started at Hendra Holiday Park where the judges Tim and Ian met director Jon Hyatt and manager Chris North.

The judges visited various locations on the tour of the town including the Gannel where they spoke to Len Sheppard, the chair of Newquay Old Cornwall Society, about the history of the estuary.

They also spoke with Jon Goodman, the custodian of the Huer’s Hut as well as Phil Trebilcock and Gareth Horner at the harbour.

The judges were shown around Trenance Gardens (Picture: Warren Wilkins) ( )

Tim and Ian were shown various examples of projects the community is undertaking in Newquay including Harbour Heights and the Towan Triangle project with Shirley Williams from the Town Team.

They visited the Wave Project in Fore Street to speak to CEO Ramon Van de Velde about the surf therapy charity’s initiative to recycle surfboard and wetsuits.

Tim and Ian were accompanied by Newquay BID manager Mark Warren on their walk through the town centre to discuss the various initiatives the group is undertaking to boost footfall.

Mayor Cllr Drew Creek greeted the judges at the Killacourt to discuss Newquay Town Council’s projects and they also visited the children’s wildflower meadow and discuss how Mothersurf café deals with green issues.

Councillor Sarah Thomson showed Tim and Ian the new living library garden outside the Newquay Town Council offices in Marcus Hill.

The final stop of the tour was a visit to the Rose Garden, Trenance Gardens and Trenance Cottages where they met the Cormac team, which helps to look after the picturesque area.

Judge Tim taking notes at the Rose Garden (Picture: Warren Wilkins) ( )

Tim from South West in Bloom said: “Newquay is very good. I’m pleased to see the input especially from the community does working in partnership with the council.

“There appears to be very good community involvement in Newquay, which nowadays is the way forward. I’ve seen some good examples of sustainable planting which with climate change happening now shows they are moving forward away from just bedding plants.” 

Lesley Friel, the secretary of Newquay in Bloom, added: “It was lovely to welcome the judges Ian and Tim to Newquay. We just hope they had an interesting visit around the town seeing some of the new developments that are happening.”