Barton Grange and Castle Gardens have been announced as the national winners of the 2016 Garden Centre Association’s (GCA) annual Christmas competition.

The garden centres were judged to have the best festive displays in the country by the organisation and will receive their awards at its annual conference in January.

GCA chief executive Iain Wylie said, “We are extremely impressed with the standard of entries this year, they just seem to get better and better.

“This year, our judge, Andy Campbell, visited every entrant to determine the area and national winners. It was a tough choice as the displays were so fantastic but we’d like to congratulate Barton Grange in Lancashire, who won in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category, and Castle Gardens in Dorset who scooped the top prize in the Garden Centre (GC) section of the awards.”

The garden centres were judged on the innovation, inspiration and excitement created from the way their Christmas products are displayed. The range of products available, accessibility, how easy it is for customers to find and select products and ‘wow factor’ were also taken into consideration in an assessment of the overall commercial proposition.

The area winners in the South Thames area were Ransoms Garden Centre (DGC) and Castle Gardens (GC). In Wales and West Whitehall Garden Centre – Lacock (DGC) and Whitehall – Whitchurch (GC) were chosen.

In North Thames, the area winners were Van Hage Great Amwell (DGC) and Sunshine Garden Centre (GC) while St Peter’s (DGC) and Fairways – Ashbourne (GC) were selected in the Midlands area.

Barton Grange (DGC) and Fron Gogh Garden Centre (GC) were selected in the North West and in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Donaghadee Garden Centre (GC) was chosen.