A CELEBRATION of country life and crafts attracted crowds of visitors to Wiltshire College Lackham for the first Gardening Big Time event.

Gardening Big Time, held last Wednesday, was organised by the college and the Wiltshire Federation of Women's Institutes, with support from Whitehall Garden Centre in Lacock.

The day gave visitors the chance to enjoy a wide variety of demonstrations, talks and competitions.

"A good crowd of people came along, and the weather was fine we were so lucky," said Jan Morris, of the federation's income generation committee.

WI members from all over the county took part in the event, submitting dozens of entries in a wide range of competitions.

The live scarecrow competition proved to be popular, with a dozen adults dressing in old clothes and decorating themselves with straw and vegetables for a parade.

But the many talents of members were brought into the spotlight in all sorts of other classes, including garden photography, home crafts and cookery.

There was even a writing contest inviting short stories with the title Behind The Potting Shed.

A garden design competition, won by Steeple Ashton WI, challenged members to come up with a layout for a low maintenance plot at Lackham.

Steeple Ashton WI created a three-tiered effect using railway sleepers and low maintenance planting.

Another competition invited WI groups to create a sign for their town or village.

Flower arranging classes were popular, attracting entries from other clubs, with competitors putting together arrangements on a variety of themes such as Memories, and the Queen's golden jubilee.

Cookery classes included sugarcraft, sweets, cakes and flans.

Gardening Big Time had plenty of other attractions to offer visitors, including a Gardeners' Question Time and a game of Call My Bluff, organised by Lackham museum curator Andrew Davies.

Gardening experts gave demonstrations about plant propagation and how to create winter colour in hanging baskets.

Talks advised gardeners on gardening for wildlife and finding the right plant to suit different locations in the garden.

Blacksmiths from Bassetts of Wroughton gave a working demonstration of their wrought ironwork.

Lackham's museum, gardens and animal centre were also open, with plenty of craft stalls to browse.

The event took about a year to organise, and it is the first WI event at Lackham for eight years. Proceeds have yet to be counted, but funds will be divided between the college and the Wiltshire Federation of WIs.

More than 4,500 women are WI members in Wiltshire.

The next major event on the federation's calendar will be a countryside event in Salisbury.

The winner of the scarecrow competition was Bernadette Irvine from Steeple Ashton.

Pickwick WI won the village sign class, and a boules contest was convincingly won by Christian Malford and Foxham WI.