Dorset struck gold in a burst of colour at the country’s world-famous Chelsea Flower Show.

“A Walk Through Time,” Dorset & Guernsey’s Area of National Association of Flower Arranging Society’s (NAFAS) stunning exhibition, won a gold medal in the Great Pavilion Awards at the show on Tuesday.

Nine members of the team travelled to Chelsea with thousands of pounds’ worth of flowers to show off their skills. 

The exhibition’s explosion of colourful flora and fauna was designed by some of NAFA’s talented flower arrangers. It invites visitors to talk a walk along Dorset’s historic Jurassic Coastline history from billions of years ago, to the present day. 

Team leader Pat Cherrett, said: “We depicted the Dorset coastline, from the Jurassic Coast and the dinosaur period, to fishing and farming and the oil slick.”

“It was absolutely brilliant. We are very proud because we’ve been working up here since last Wednesday. The comments on it have been wonderful.

“They judged us on Monday and then we were given the gold medal at 7am on Tuesday, to shouts and screams of joy.”

During the 'Walk Through Time', the flowers evolve from ferns, conifers, horsetails and mosses to beautiful multi-coloured flowering plants such as lilies and carnations. 

Amongst the show's thousands of visitors, the exhibition attracted a few celebrity visitors including Peter Kay, Ainsley Harriott and Carol Klein. 

The group raised £22,000 to fund the project with the help of donations from local residents and businesses and a subsidy from NAFAS, after launching a fundraising mission in 2016. 

NAFAS is divided into 21 areas throughout the UK, with one area being invited to stage an exhibit each year. With only 18 clubs, Dorset and Guernsey is the smallest NAFAS area in the country.

The last time Dorset & Guernsey were invited to stage the exhibit at Chelsea was in 1996. 

This is the 42nd consecutive year that NAFAS members have staged a large scale design in the Grand Pavilion, and societies have now been awarded with an impressive 24 gold medals.