KEEN gardeners impressed the judges with their weather-defying entries at the 54th Harrowbarrow and Metherell Show on Saturday.

The experts were surprised at the quality of the vegetables, fruit and flowers, which survived the bone-dry early summer, and the downpours of the last couple of weeks, to pick up prizes.

The show was opened by Alan Davis, who has been at the forefront of the push to bring improved community facilities to Harrowbarrow and Metherell.

The two villages had their new hall in 1995 and a skate park, adventure play areas and a multisports pitch was opened there in 2010, following years of fundraising and the award of grants, plus £50,000 of Lottery funding through the People's Millions competition.

There were 506 entries at the twin villages' festival held at Harrowbarrrow Village Hall and styled as an annual show and garden party.

Kathy Thomas won the Cookery Cup and the Millennium trophy for the most points in the show and shared the Wesley Wilton award, for the most entries, with Jean Miller, who took the Trehorner Shield for photography.

Christopher Legg won the Burgoigne  (fruit and vegetables) and Joynson (selection of vegetables) Cups. The Adult Handicraft Cup went to Jo Parsons, who also took the Lane Cup, awarded for the best exhibit in the show, for her cross-stitch work.

In the children's classes the Bowden family had a field day: Genieve won the Steer Shield for most points and shared the Terry Gimblett Award for photography with sister Josephine and shared the Lucas Cup (children, eight-11) with Corey Freeman, while Anita Bowden took the Fred Ough Cup for the best photo of a pet.

Other cup winners were: Outdoor Flowers – Helen Hayward; Flower Arrangement – Eileen Sturt; Pot Plants – Mavis Tancock; Morris Cup (adult art) – Roger Adams; Spry Cup (children, 12-16) – Suzanne Freeman; and Godfrey Smale Cup (men's chocolate cake) – Martin Freeman.