ASPIRING young designers are celebrating after winning first prize in a garden design competition.

More than 100 schools in the North-East took part in the challenge, organised by Peter Barratt's Garden Centre.

The winning team was five pupils from St Lawrence's RC Primary School in Byker, Newcastle, who were given £250 of vouchers to spend at the centre.

The group, Sean Connon, Jordan Maguire, Jasmine Falcus, Daniel Conway and Chloe Tulker named their design the Wildlife Garden. It features a pond with goldfish, butterflies, a variety of birds, a footbridge, water feature, greenhouse, trees and a selection of flowers and plants.

Jasmine said: "We all thought about what we would like to have in our garden and then we drew our designs on a piece of paper and then made our model. My favourite piece was the bridge."

Garden centre assistant manager Paul Barker, said: "It's great to see kids taking such an interest in gardening and the environment.

"The Wildlife Garden was certainly one of our more creative entries and there has been a lot of hard work and imagination gone into this design. It is important to give children the chance to let their imagination run wild with gardening."

Second prize went to Windmill Hills Primary School, in Gateshead, and The Drive Primary School, in Gateshead, was third.