Gardening volunteers from the National Trust estate at Cotehele on the River Tamar have won a top award.

They scooped the Cornwall Today Volunteers’ Cup 2016 at the spring flower show at Boconncc, last weekend.

‘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 Cotehele.

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.

Cotehele head gardener Dave Bouch said: ‘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.