Peter Burks, who left The Garden Centre Group (TGCG) in November after a regional management overhaul, has been given a key role with Trelawney Garden Leisure.

He has been appointed general manager at the company, in charge of its two West Country garden centres.

Mr Burks, who, until recently, was chairman of the Garden Centre Association as well as a regional manager with TGCG, will give support to the award-winning garden centre chain's owners, David Danning and David Symons.

Mr Danning said: "We're delighted to welcome Peter on board. He has a wealth of industry experience and we're really looking forward to working with him.

"He will oversee the running of Trelawney@Wadebridge in Cornwall and Trelawney@Ashford in North Devon, while David and I focus on building and launching what will become our new centre at Probus in Cornwall."

Peter Burks has run garden centres at directorial and managerial level for more than 30 years and launched and ran the multi-award-winning Sanders Garden World in Somerset for more than 10 years.

He has a degree in horticulture from the University of Bath and comes from a family of garden centre owners and horticulturists.

He commented: "This is a wonderful opportunity for me to get back to my West Country roots and to be able to do the job I love."