A NOVICE gardener has wowed experts at a national event.

Caroline Moore competed in the Beautiful Border contest at this year's BBC Gardeners' World Live which was held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham last week.

The 32-year-old from Chineham was judged on strict Royal Horticultural Society standards and won a silver medal in her first attempt in such a competition.

The engineer at C-T Aviation Solutions was picked to take part after submitting her design on the theme of Every Space Counts.

After creating the border, the designs were judged on a range from platinum to gold, silver and bronze on Wednesday last week with the show then open to the public until Sunday.

The mother-of-two said: "It was really hard to bring it to life as to get good quality plants grown for you can be difficult but we found the right sponsor in Oxfordshire.

"I wasn't expecting a silver grade - I enjoy gardening and am passionate about it, as is my husband, but I'm an engineer! "The footfall at the show is massive, it is something like 90,000 visitors. It was constant people looking at it [the design], talking about it, which was really nice to see. The reaction was amazing."

Caroline is looking for sponsors to enter the event again next year. Email moore.carolines@gmail.com.