TV GARDEN designer Matt James got the chance to meet some of the young gardening stars of the future when he handed out the prizes at the Lillicrap Chilcott Garden Design Challenge.

It's the fourth year running that the Truro-based estate agent has held a design competition and this time it's looked beyond the styling of the house itself to the design of the garden outside.

Competition organiser Sarah Lillicrap said: "We deliberately set quite a broad brief to allow everyone to come up with exactly the kind of garden that they would like to have.

"We've had formal gardens set around mansions, we've had island gardens, playground gardens, cottage gardens and the thought and skill that has gone into most of the designs is absolutely amazing."

Nine winners were chosen out of around 600 entries from youngsters across the whole of Cornwall. They and their families and teachers were invited to Lillicrap Chilcott's Truro offices for the official prize-giving, accompanied by afternoon tea.

There to present the awards was TV celebrity Matt James, who is best known for his Channel 4 series The City Gardener. Last year he was back on our screens alongside Alan Titchmarsh with ITV's new primetime show Love your Garden and when he's not in front of the cameras he's to be found lecturing on garden design and horticulture courses at Duchy College and University College Falmouth.

He said: "I'm just so impressed with how much thought has gone into these designs. If these kids are coming up with drawings and ideas like this when they're only 13, I need to get worried because there's serious competition heading my way!"

All the winners picked up substantial cash prizes from Lillicrap Chilcott for themselves, with the overall winner, chosen by Matt, collecting an additional cheque for £1,000 for their school.

In the youngest category, aged three to eight, the gold award went to eight-year-old Henry Hallam of Kea School. Ben Purchas, aged five, of Truro Pre-Prep School, took the silver, while the bronze award was picked up by Benji Cabrera, aged seven, also of Kea School.

The nine to 13s age group was hotly contested, with the top prize going to Patricia Longthorp, 13, of Truro High School. The silver award went to Eleanor Mumford, 13, of The Bolitho School, with Devoran School's Georgia Stone, nine, in third.

The senior class for those aged 14 to 18 reached an exceptionally high standard with last year's winner, William Bright, aged 15, of The Bolitho School, again picking up the gold award. Silver went to St Ives School's Daniel Allatt, 14, with Alastair Manley, also 14 and from St Ives School, in third place.

The school prize for the best overall entry was presented by Matt to Patricia Longthorp, of Truro High School.

Truro High headmistress, Caroline Pascoe, helped Patricia pick up the cheque, promising to use it to do something lovely and garden related for her students.

The event drew to a close with Ian Lillicrap and Andrew Chilcott thanking Matt for his help and expertise before presenting him with a packed hamper of locally made produce – the ideal gift for a man once named Londoner of the Year for his efforts to introduce farmer's markets to the capital.