FANTASTIC flowers, wonderful window boxes and beautiful blooms will be on show in this year’s Best Kept Village competition.

The Hills Group and the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) Wiltshire branch have joined forces to launch the Best Kept Village competition and invitations have been sent to all 234 villages across the county.

The competition is judged in three categories – small villages with populations of less than 300, medium villages with populations between 301 to 1,000 residents and large villages with populations between 1,001 to 3,500 residents.

Judging will take place from May to August and the final winners’ presentation ceremony will be held on October 12 in each of the winning villages with prizes awarded by Wiltshire’s Lord Lieutenant, president of the CPRE Wiltshire Sarah Troughton and Mike Hill from Hills.

The winning villages in 2013 were Teffont, All Cannings and Burbage.

The first 30 entries for this year’s competition received at the CPRE Office in Devizes will each be given 10 bags of compost. Entries need to be submitted by Wednesday, April 30.