Hairdresser Terry Pollock is a cut above the rest when it comes to gardening.

Everything in the garden is so nicely trimmed and coloured that Terry and his wife, Allyson, of Tudor Close, Rottingdean, won the best front garden award organised as part of the village's successful South-East in Bloom campaign.

Terry finds gardening relaxing after spending the day trimming and cutting hair at his Blow Your Top salon, in Church Hill, Patcham.

His efforts helped Rottingdean come second in the large village category, successfully beating off challenges from villages in Kent and Surrey. Rottingdean was only beaten by picturesque Thatfield in Surrey.

Brighton and Hove won first place in the large city class.

The organiser of Rottingdean in Bloom, local postmaster Ken Humphries, said: "This was a pretty good effort. We bloomin' did it."

Judges were particularly impressed with the well maintained Kipling Gardens which they described as the "jewel in the crown" of Rottingdean's effort.

They described the almost perfect green croquet lawn where Rottingdean Croquet Club plays as "second to none."