Shrewsbury Flower Show: Thousands flock to quarry for bloomin' marvellous show - with pictures

The Shropshire Sarracenia plants, grown by Mike King from Telford, took the top prize at the 130th anniversary show.

Thousands of people poured through the gates to The Quarry on Saturday to see Mr King's award-winning display and everything else the show has to offer.

The sun shone down on Shrewsbury and festival-goers enjoyed a packed programme including the showjumping competition, a falconry display, musical interludes from a steel band and various choirs, cooking demonstrations from top chefs, music from The Overtones and more.

In addition to the all-day entertainment, there was an opportunity to see the professional gardeners at work in the Quarry Marquee.

Best in show exhibitor, Mr King, said: "My Sarracenia plants draw a crowd because they are carniverous - they're insect eaters. Last year we came in second place so I'm proud of have won it this year and we even beat all of the Chelsea Flower Show gold medallists here today."

The huge display took four people four days to complete and the collection included a Japanese species the only one of its kind in Europe.

"I've got 6,000 of these plants at home and import them all over the world," he added. "Brexit means I will lose a lot of my European market but there's a lot of demand in place like New Zealand and Japan.

"My collection will catch and eat four to five million insects ever year."

Mr King's collection is so impressive, you have to join a waiting list which currently has more than 600 names, if you want one.

It even contains a unique plant created by Mr King in Telford named after his grandmother Esme Cowlard who inspired him to start growing.

Elsewhere in the professionals tent, Chelsea Flower Show 28 time gold medallist, Rex Dibley, was awarded reserve best in show.

The 84-year-old has been coming to the Shrewsbury Flower Show for the last four decades with his streptocarpus and begonias.

After a long day taking in hundreds of exhibits, oysters, pizza cones, paella, ice cream and much more were on the menu with trade stands offering food from every corner of the world.

As the evening drew to a close, The Royal Signals motorcycle display team - The White Helmets, stunned the crowd with a thrilling performance. A team of 30 volunteers rode into the arena on British Millennium Triumph 750cc motorcycles and performed spectacular feats of balance, death defying crossover jumps and outstanding acrobatics.

The Overtones, a five-piece vocal harmony group, headlined Saturday night with their mix of doo-wop, Motown, R&B and pop. The band, who recently celebrated their fifth consecutive UK Top 10 album, drew in a huge crowd to celebrate the show's birthday.

As always, the night ended with the spectacular fireworks display to close the Shrewsbury Flower Show - until next year.