PEOPLE in Middleton-in-Teesdale are celebrating after winning multiple gold awards for the third consecutive year in the Northumbria in Bloom competition.
As well as the village as a whole winning gold, The Teesdale Hotel also picked up a gold award and came close to being selected the best decorated pub in the North East. The village underwent two rounds of judging before the awards were announced last week.
Other successes for the village included Daleview which earned a silver gilt award in the residential communities section and 19 Chapel Row which was awarded silver in the private gardens section.
A home in Masterman Place, which was entered separately, received a level two in the It’s Your Neighbourhood category.
In awarding gold the judges praised the village for being neat and tidy, with considerable displays of flowers.
They said: “Summer plantings were of a high standard and has been very well maintained during a prolonged spell of hot, dry weather.
“Grass areas were well maintained. It is recognised that Middleton in Bloom has had a considerable impact on the village environment.
“Some of the plantings are original and forward-looking and all were in good condition after a prolonged drought.”
They were also impressed with the way the village organisers had planted in a way that attracts bees and other insects.
Organiser Pam Phillips said: “They thought it was good. When they were going around they were saying how good it is to see perennials and annuals in the same tubs.”
She added that The Teesdale Hotel had done extremely well in the event, almost clinching the title of best hotel or pub in the competition.
She said: “The judges said if they had window boxes that would have done it.”
Hotel owner Dave Falcon, who was “quite chuffed” with the award, said the display is done entirely in-house with his mum, Bernadette, planting the flowers, while he kept them watered.
Tribute was paid by organisers to Middleton-in-Teesdale Parish Council for organising two major village clean up events and for negotiating with Raby Estate for planting on the green.
Parish chairman Cllr Andy Mitchell described the village earning the gold award as magnificent. He said: “It is all down to the heard work of Pam and her team.”
Mrs Phillips said: “I was definitely on a high, but it starts again, now we are planting daffodils on the green, in swathes.”
