GREEN-FINGERED students given expert advice by a TV gardener have struck gold in a national contest.The team, from Otley College, scooped a National Skills Challenge gold medal for their garden creation.

GREEN-FINGERED students given expert advice by a TV gardener have struck gold in a national contest.

The team, from Otley College, scooped a National Skills Challenge gold medal for their garden creation.

The National Diploma in Horticulture students, Simon Ginger, William Gadd, Richard Miller and Craig George, worked alongside TV's Chris Beardshaw before heading off to the UK Landscape National Skills competition in Cheshire, where they beat back nine other hopeful teams to take the top prize.

Earlier this year, Mr Beardshaw, of The Flying Gardener and Gardeners' World, helped nine learners who scooped a gold medal at the Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show in Malvern, Worcestershire.

Mr Beardshaw is also hoping to do some guest lecturing at the college next year.

The partnership came about through Otley's landscape and garden design lecturer Jody Lidgard, who came second out of 64 contestants in Channel 4's The Great Gardening Challenge last year.

Mr Beardshaw said: “Gardening is my passion and I am delighted to be working with Otley. The college has a long tradition of teaching landscape and garden design courses and lecturing is still a part of life that I love.”

Mr Lidgard said they were “delighted” that he had decided to support the college on a number of projects.

“The expertise and knowledge that he passes on to our students is invaluable and this is just one way in which the collage is expanding within this department,” he said.

“The fact that we scooped top honours at the National Skills Challenge is a credit to our students and proves that they are using the knowledge that they have gained in a positive way.”