Oxford News
Oxfordshire garden among ‘Best of the best’ in UK by BBC
Nadine Mitschunas from near Wallingford is one of three people whose gardens are in the running for the ‘Best of the best’ edition of the garden of the year awards.
This year’s competition, the 10th, has a unique twist: every contender is a previous finalist, bringing together standout gardens from the last decade of the awards.
Ms Mitschunas was nominated by the magazine’s readers alongside Pam Woodall from Dorset, as well as Jo and Andi Butler from Shropshire.
She was previously the 2021 Judge’s Choice winner.
Representing a broad range of gardening styles from across the country, each of the finalist gardens shows creativity, dedication and a passion for plants.
The overall winner will be chosen by a panel of expert judges, to be announced in the October issue of BBC Gardeners’ World.
The panel includes garden designer and BBC Gardeners’ World presenter, Arit Anderson; garden designer and author, Ann-Marie Powell, BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine content director, Kevin Smith, and head gardener at Crocus, Ashley Edwards.
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Mr Smith said: “Reaching the top three is a huge achievement, especially in this special anniversary year.
“These gardens truly represent the very best from the past decade and showcase the creativity, dedication and passion of our readers. Choosing a winner from such an exceptional group won’t be easy.”
BBC Gardeners’ World previously said about Ms Mitschunas’ garden: “This really is a garden for our times, reflecting the care that so many gardeners have poured into creating spaces for wildlife to thrive.
“Our winner has achieved this to a high level of perfection but not forgotten the need to make an atmospheric space to simply live in and enjoy.
“With mostly plants rather than landscaping used to create the space, it’s a thrifty and achievable blueprint for many others to follow.”
Ms Mitschunas works as a pollinator ecologist and started to cultivate her overgrown and unloved plot in 2010.
Last year, the BBC reported that Ms Mitschunas was the UK’s first rice grower.
The crops in her four small paddy fields were able to grow due to the hottest summer on record last year.
She said: “Nobody has tried this before, but with climate change, we have crops that, 10 years ago, we wouldn’t have thought would be viable.
“In 10 years time, rice could be a completely perfect crop for us.”
The experiment was the idea of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
“I’m actually amazed because they are big, happy, bushy plants,” she added.
The Thames Valley Police Abingdon unit arrested a man for “breaching court bail conditions” on Saturday, August 29.
A spokesperson said: “On Saturday, PC Hackett attended reports of a male breaching court bail conditions.
READ MORE: Public told ‘DO NOT APPROACH’ as wanted man sighted in Oxford centre
“With assistance from PC Ellingworth and PC Harvey, the male was arrested. Following a search, a knife was recovered from his possession.”
In a wide ranging update, the force also revealed it had supported in a “concern for welfare incident linked to the night-time economy.
In addition, it had carried out licensing checks across Abingdon with drug wipes used and sent off for testing
OXFORD Mail Camera Club members have been taking photos of their dogs
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The collision happened on the southbound carriageway between Junction 6 for Lewknor and Junction 5 for Watlington in the late morning on Saturday, August 29.
The emergency services attended the scene and closed the road,
National Highways said lanes two and three of the three-lane motorway were shut as a result while crews dealt with the incident, leading to delays of around 40 minutes.
Congestion was worsened by separate lane closures between Junctions 4 and 5 in both directions following damage to the central reservation from an earlier incident.
Traffic built up on approaches to the crash, with nearby areas including Stokenchurch and Lewknor also affected.
Images from traffic cameras showed long queues of vehicles and emergency workers at the scene throughout the afternoon.
AA Travel also reported that one lane was closed on the northbound carriageway between Handy Cross and Stokenchurch due to emergency repairs.
National Highways later confirmed that all southbound lanes between Junctions 6 and 5 had reopened and that the lane closures linked to the earlier incident were also being removed.
Despite the reopening, delays of around 40 minutes remained on the approach as traffic slowly returned to normal.
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