BEWDLEY'S flood defences have had a spin-off benefit for one keen gardener.

David Griffiths, of Dog Lane, who entered the Bewdley in Bloom contest for the first time in several years, won first prize for the front private garden category.

He explained: "We used to enter a long time ago. The reason we stopped was because we are in the flood plain and every year the garden would get wrecked but now the barrier is here we can play with the garden again."

Mr Griffiths, who has lived in Bewdley with his wife, Penny, for 14 years, said the 20ft square garden contained "just about everything you can cram into a small space".

There are traditional cottage garden plants and tomatoes growing in hanging baskets, as well as a small summerhouse and a small greenhouse.

The 50-year-old said: "In Dog Lane, everybody stops and chats and says how nice it is. Our front garden has always been for everybody else.

"I change the garden a lot but it has taken me all of this year to plan it out by the time the judging was taking place. I thought we were in the running for a place but was pleasantly surprised with first."

Bewdley Museum won first place for the second year running in the competition.

The tourist attraction also clinched third place for a wartime allotment garden, which featured vegetables that would have been growing during the war years.

Employees at the museum prepared and maintained the gardens, which were judged in the commercial and vegetable garden categories, with the help of Friends of Bewdley Museum.

Education officer, Monica Rees paid tribute to the museum's assistants and the volunteers from the Friends of Bewdley Museum who worked "extremely hard, keeping the museum's gardens how they should be".

Other winners were: public house or hotel: Running Horse. Hanging basket: C Bradley. Window box: Running Horse. Tub or vase: D Dickenson. Corner or passageway: B Turner. Church: All Saints.

Courtyard: M D Powell. Large private garden: Karen Raine. Small private garden: L Evans. Group effort: Hillcroft Caravan Park.

Vegetable garden: P Bolton. Private outside front: D Griffiths. Mobile home surround: F Williams.