For 2025 there are two categories so you can enter either a hanging basket or a planter/window box. There will also be a special prize for the best overall entry, from either category, for the under 14s.
Entry forms forms are available online on the Darley Dale Town Council website ( https://darleydale.gov.uk/news/), from the table in the entrance hall of the Whitworth Centre and from Mrs Caroline Dale-Leech, ’Tally Ho’ (by Red House Stables), Old Road, Darley Dale, DE4 2ER. Completed forms should be returned to the posting box outside the Town Council office, in the Whitworth Centre, or to ‘Tally Ho’ by 1 July.
Judging will take place in the week commencing 14 July. The winning entrant in each category will be awarded a £25 gardening voucher at our Celebration evening on 10 October in the Methodist Church Hall. The winner of the under 14s competition will receive their prize then too.
For more information, please contact Caroline on 07717 334359.
Darley Dale in Bloom are also busy preparing to fill up planters, troughs and tubs with summer flowering plants, and planting beds with homegrown plants and a few more perennials where there are gaps. The reshaped and redesigned beds at the junction of Greenaway Lane and the A6 looked spectacular last year and should be as colourful this summer. This year’s big project, in conjunction with the Whitworth Trust and the Darley Dale Community Volunteer Group, has involved tidying up the area above the ‘Onzain bed’ in the Whitworth Park and then preparing the bed below for a thorough overhaul. Have a look to see how they are getting on when you next pass by!
The group have also entered the East Midlands in Bloom competition again this year and hope that the judges will be impressed when they visit at the beginning of July. If you live in Darley Dale, you can help by litter picking, offering to water any planters near where you live, or just offering encouragement when you see us out and about!