EVERYTHING in the garden is looking rosy for a Barnard Castle florist, judged to be one of the best in the UK.

Denise Spooner, 21, won the UK SkillFLORIST 2002 competition at Salford Quays in Manchester last week. She now goes on to represent Great Britain in Switzerland next June.

As the Society of Floristry candidate, she beat off creative rivals from the British Florist Association, the Association of Floristry Teachers, Interflora, Teleflorist and Flowergram.

The six competitors had to produce five pieces of floristry on a carnival theme and put together an impromptu display on stage against the clock.

"We each had a box of identical flowers and greenery so we could be compared on results and we had to do that in 45 minutes. I wasn't fazed by being watched by the audience on a large screen, in fact I quite liked that.

"We also had to design an adornment for male models from the Navy - without knowing whether they would be 7ft tall or 4ft. I did a garland around the neck with a sash across the front trailing down to a V at the back."

Builder Center, which runs the local Harmire Enterprise Park, sponsored her by providing copper piping for her main floral structures up to two-and-a- half metres tall.

Ahead of her lies a few team-building weekends with other winners from different industries prior to June.

On Monday she was back at Richardsons Florists making hand tied bouquets. "I'm happy to be back. I've no particular interest in having a shop of my own at this stage. I love doing demonstrations and my boss gives me the opportunity to do that. I also teach at Bishop Auckland College and I like having the time to see how new trends are developing.