A GARDEN based on the Sussex craft of trug making has scooped a top prize at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Gardeners Serena Freemantle and Tina Vallis, Sussex, won gold in the Artisan Garden category for their Trugmaker's Garden.

Trug baskets have been made in Sussex for more than 500 years and are used for harvesting food and collecting grain. They are made from sweet chestnut and willow wood.

Ms Freemantle said they wanted to replicate a traditional garden.

She added: “In the olden days the planting for a truggery would be vibrant to attract the passersby and local trade.”

Archive photographs found during the pair’s research showed a baby inside a trug outside a traditional workshop.

The baby was Pamela Elphick, from Eastbourne, who will celebrate her 87th birthday on Friday.