Cotehele gardening volunteers are winners

The Cotehele gardening volunteers have won the Cornwall Today Volunteers’ Cup 2016’ at the spring flower show in Boconnac, Cornwall. The show and award ceremony took place over the weekend of 2/3 April. 

‘The award is thoroughly deserved for the volunteers’ tremendous efforts in creating the dried flower garland here at Cotehele last Christmas’, says Chris Groves, Senior Gardener at the National Trust house, garden and estate in South-East Cornwall.

Building the annual Christmas garland takes ten months of preparation and two full weeks for Cotehele’s 30 volunteers. The decoration forms the Christmas centrepiece of the estate’s Tudor hall. The volunteers need patience, skill, co-operation, perseverance as well as a passion for horticulture.

Cotehele Head Gardener Dave Bouch says: ‘In 2015, we decided to open the garland a week earlier than in previous years to allow visitors to enjoy it for longer. That put an even greater pressure on the volunteers; but they stepped up to the challenge, drying and arranging 46,000 flowers to create the 60-ft masterpiece. Without them, the garland would not be achievable.'

Cotehele gardening volunteers range in age from 30 to 70 and have a diverse range of backgrounds including pensioners, bank clerks and police officers. Led by a four-strong, full-time gardening team, the volunteers do the majority of the hard work.

Cornwall Today is the biggest, best-selling monthly magazine for Cornwall. It was named Best Regional Magazine in the 2014 Newspaper Awards. The Boconnac spring flower show is an annual showcase for the best in Cornish horticulture organised by Cornwall Garden Society.