SCHOOLS in Worcestershire were among those praised for their efforts at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival.

Abberley Parochial VC Primary, Castlemorton CE Primary and The Elms, Colwall were all highly commended for the show gardens they produced for the prestigious show at the Three Counties Showground last week.

Stanley Road Primary, Nunnery Wood High School, Pershore College and Tudor Grange Academy Worcester were also commended for their gardens.

Children at Stanley Road primary school put together a white garden to portray Captain Scott's journey to the South Pole.

The idea was put forward by the children to fit in with the festival's theme of a great moment in history.

Anne Potter, head at Stanley Road Primary, said: "We had some lovely comments from the public who were talking to the children about Scott and what they knew about him.

"They were really positive about children gardening generally and the children really enjoyed it.

"We had help from St Peter's garden centre and from the 3 Shires garden centre at Newent.

"We couldn't have done it without them."

A record number of 20 school gardens entered this year’s challenge from Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

Chris Collins, BBC Blue Peter Gardener, said: “Being the School Gardens Champion for RHS Malvern has been an incredibly rewarding experience and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself.

"I am passionate about inspiring young people to have a go at gardening and the school gardens challenge is a fantastic way of demonstrating all the different avenues that horticulture has to offer.

"The children have to come up with a design, grow their plants and construct their gardens from scratch and this year the standard has been incredibly high with nine gardens being awarded highly commended.

"It was great to see how interested Princess Anne was in the gardens and the children were all thrilled to meet her.

"I can’t wait to see what they come up with next year.”