A ex business analyst and former police officer will be among a college team aiming to create a garden display based around upcycling and recycling for this year’s Suffolk Show.

East Anglian Daily Times: Tracey Herrington, Suzi Phillips, Jo Eyre, Andy Snelling, Clay Rogers and David Miller of Easton and Otley College. Picture: JOHN NICETracey Herrington, Suzi Phillips, Jo Eyre, Andy Snelling, Clay Rogers and David Miller of Easton and Otley College. Picture: JOHN NICE (Image: John Nice/Easton and Otley College)

The Easton and Otley College horticultural department group, which includes a number of students who have decided on a career change, is hoping to better last year’s silver medal when they go for gold in the garden competition by creating a display called Green House.

The area, which will be housed outside the flower tent, will have an environmental theme incorporating every department of the college.

College horticultural unit manager Clay Rogers said: “This is a real team effort and the inspiration will be based around upcycling and recycling.

“All curriculum areas will be featured in creative ways. For example, we will decorate tractor tyres to represent agriculture, we will have horse shoes nailed to part of a bar area representing equine and we will have work trousers filled with plants giving a nod to our construction department.

East Anglian Daily Times: A fence panel created by Keith Plumb from the engineering department at Easton and Otley College. Picture: CLAY ROGERSA fence panel created by Keith Plumb from the engineering department at Easton and Otley College. Picture: CLAY ROGERS (Image: Clay Rogers)

“The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) helped us get started and this collaborative effort will include lots of creative ideas and support from academics, ground staff and students. The feedback from the Suffolk Show has been very positive and we can’t wait for people to see the design.”

Some of the students on the level three course have been helping drive the project forward.

Team member Tracey Herrington, a former travel marketing expert, said: “We wanted to create something that will inspire and we also wanted to create something that was affordable, sustainable, community led and something that that people could create at home. We will be using purples and greens and we want to create something that has a wow factor.”

Horticultural lecturer Andy Snelling said the emphasis was on fun. “Last year we had a golfing garden. This year we will have a green house. All in all, we can’t wait to showcase some of the amazing horticultural talent that we have at the college to the thousands of visitors who attend the Suffolk Show.”