STAFF at a Dursley-based landscaping and ground maintenance business have won a national award for their long-term work with Wotton in Bloom.

D.R.Howse Services has been feeding and watering Wotton in Bloom’s hanging baskets and troughs for the last five seasons.

Now their efforts have been rewarded in their twentieth year with an award from BALI, the British Association of Landscape Industries.

The award in the Ground Maintenance category for areas which provide free public access was presented last December at their 40th Annual Awards ceremony.

Director Dave Howse, and his team are delighted with the award, he said: “It was an honour to have been selected to do the work in the first place but now for it to be recognised at this level is a dream come true.

“We are already looking forward to this year’s season and helping to keep Wotton looking at its best once again.”

BALI’s marketing manager Darren Taylor commended the project, saying: “This scheme is brilliant. It is a true community project where people are working together and supporting each other.”

The number of hanging baskets due to adorn the streets of Wotton-under-Edge for the eighth time looks set to be the highest in its history with a target of securing 150 orders.

Sue Hunt chairman of the Wotton in Bloom committee is over the moon, she said: “Dave and his team have done a wonderful job and this award is very richly deserved.

“But we must always remember that none of this would have been possible without the incredible generosity of the people of Wotton.

“Once again we seem to be bucking the austerity trend and getting bigger every year.”

Baskets cost £84 to supply including feeding and watering but thanks to donations the committee will be able to sell them to the town’s businesses for just £42.

They also intend to install three extra flower troughs in late May which they hope will stay up until the town’s second Blues Festival at the end of September.

The project is locally supported from start to finish, the baskets are supplied and planted by the Wotton Farm Shop and the brackets are checked and maintained by Rob Devall of the window cleaning and maintenance company ‘oh-so-clean’.

Progress and updates can be followed on the Wotton in Bloom Facebook page.

Anyone wishing to join the team or make a donation to the project can contact Sue Hunt on suehunt2@btinternet.com or 01453 521263 or they can make a direct donation through The Market Place in Long Street.