FLOWER festivals can take on a whole new appeal where the Pudleston bunch is concerned.

With a population of 143, St Peter’s tiny parish manages to bring a winning touch to its annual summer festival.

Last year’s floral displays shared space with James Bond, a few villains and 007’s 1964 silver Aston Martin.

This year visitors will be taken aback by lifesize models straight out of the pages of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Churchwarden Robin Wilson has produced an amiable Mr Tumnus, a fiendish White Witch and even Aslan, characters from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, all designed to give a special flavour to Pudleston’s flower festival on August 20 and 21.

Mr Tumnus and the White Witch have already started to raised the eyebrows of passers-by.

“They frightened quite a few people while I was working on them at home!” said Mr Wilson.

But he believes children visiting Pudleston flower festival will be intrigued by the figures and scenes.

“In the best tradition of Dr Who, children enjoy being frightened,” he said.

“Visitors will come in through the ‘wardrobe’ and they’ll see Aslan near the altar and the White Witch beside the bell-tower door,” he added.

“Like the book, we’ll show how winter turns into spring, and the window sills will feature the other books in the series.

“It’s very important to keep our churches in the community, and the flower festival is a major fund-raiser so we want to make it a bit different.

"Injecting a bit of humour into these events can make them less stuffy.”

Mr Wilson trained as a scenic artist at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, went on to work on West End productions and spent three years in Disney’s Lion King puppet department.

At Parochial Church Council meetings, members are no longer surprised at his “crazy ideas!”, he said.

The vicar, the Rev Celia Rees was “extremely supportive” and he praised other nearby villages for their help in staging flower festivals.

“Ford flower festival has helped us, we’ve been able to draw on their 31-year experience,” he explained.

Those troubled by Mr Tumnus and the White Witch’s unnerving presence will be relieved to hear that the models will disappear after the festival.

“They’ll be recycled into next year’s theme,” said Robin, adding: “It will be Glen Miller and the songs of the Second World War.”