DARLINGTON has been in full bloom this August, with two allotment open days and flower shows taking place in the area on successive weekends this month.

Barmpton Lane Allotments opened its doors to the public on Saturday, August 15, with visitors including the mayor, Councillor Tom Nutt, taking in an array of impressive floral displays.

Then, a week after the Barmpton Lane show, Middleton St George and District Allotments and Garden Association held its annual Flower and Vegetable Show over the past weekend.

Maz Holmes, secretary of the Middleton St George Association, hailed the event as a success.

She said: “It’s a social event really; half the village is people who’ve lived there all their life, while the other half are ‘newbies’.

“An event like this brings everyone in the village together – we’ve raised over £200 from raffle ticket sales, which shows the high attendance we had.”

The event, which took place from 9am until 6pm on Saturday, August 22, was open to all-comers, with 39 entrants in a number of different categories.

Winners were rewarded with cups and a small cash prize.

As the pictures show, the standard was high, but the stars of the show were perhaps the sunflowers produced by the youngest entrants – local Brownies had grown them over the summer from seeds they planted in the spring.

Mrs Holmes added: “There was a £10 prize for the tallest and a £10 prize for the biggest flower – they measured past nine foot for the first time this year.”