A PARISH church is hosting what is claimed to be the biggest flower festival in the North of England.

The festival at St Peter and St Paul’s in Pickering, North Yorkshire, will run untilJune 1 on the theme of the Wizard of Oz.

The vicar, Father Antony Pritchett, said: “Forget every flower festival you’ve seen before – the Wizard of Oz Flower Festival is something else.

“The church will look more like a film set, with huge structures covered in flowers. The whole community has come together to create the festival.

“The youth group have created the Emerald City with plants, lights and jewels, and we’re having a scarecrow festival to coincide with the flower festival.”

Leading arrangers and designers from all over Yorkshire and beyond are also taking part – many of them Chelsea medal winners.

Three years ago the church hosted a flower festival based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which attracted 20,000 visitors.

Father Pritchett said: “Our last flower festival became the largest flower festival in the north of England that year, and is still talked about, years later. This is on an even greater scale.

“We’re expecting many thousands of visitors and there’s something here for people of every age.”