Chichester College has been awarded the People’s Choice Award at the Young Gardeners of the Year Competition, chosen by visitors at this year’s Ideal Home Show sponsored by Zoopla

Chichester College inspired visitors the most at this year’s Ideal Home Show by picking up the Young Gardeners of the Year People’s Choice Award. Visitors at the Ideal Home Show, sponsored by Zoopla, voted Chichester College’s garden to be their favourite out of the six participating colleges.

In close second place was Askham Bryan College, who were also awarded a Gold medal and the prestigious Best at Show award by the judges in March.

The annual competition, now in its sixth year, which is organised by TV gardener David Domoney, offers students a great opportunity to showcase their work and celebrate the best of sustainable British gardening. Each college was given a 5.5m x 4m plot to both plan and design a garden that demonstrated an understanding of harmony and sustainability. The show gardens are meant to inspire city dwellers, showing all that can be achieved in urban locations. They create a sense of tranquility and sustainability for homeowners to act as an escape from the pressures of inner city life and bring a touch of nature to the heart of the metropolis. The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community set clear guidelines based on organic and sustainable principles that the charity has championed for so long.

The judging panel was led by some of the leading lights of the horticultural, design and media industries including TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh, and Simon Sadinsky from The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community and Carol Paris, chief executive of the Horticultural Trades Association, Deborah Stone, former Chairman of the Garden Media Guild.

Simon Sadinsky, head of Education at The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, said: “Nurturing the talent of future generations and spreading the message of sustainability and the importance of nature is important to The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community. We are delighted by the talent on display this year and want to congratulate Chichester College for winning the People’s Choice! Hopefully it will inspire many more people to think about what nature, even in the shape of the simplest back garden, can teach us”.

David Domoney, organiser of the competition, said: “A delightful win for Chichester College. It is a testament to all of the hard work that the students have put in. They have captivated the visitors of the Ideal Home Show and what a great thing for the students to put on their CV’s when they leave college looking to join the commercial world.”

The 2016 participating colleges were:

Chichester college, Sussex (2012, 2013 & 2014 Champions)

Capel Manor, Middlesex (2011 Champions)

Askham Bryan College, North Yorkshire (2016 Champions)

Pershore College, Part of the Warwickshire College Group

Shuttleworth College, Bedfordshire

Writtle College, Essex (2015 Champions)

The Ideal Home Show London ran until 3rd April 2016 at London Olympia.