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This year, for the first time ever, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council put out a call to all budding milliners to pick up their pruning shears and get creative with floral-themed headwear as part of Garden Show Ireland – and the winners of the hotly contested competition have been revealed.

Ellie Nesbitt, from Antrim, and Paula Conroy, from Wild Water Farm, Armagh, were announced as the winners of the new Mad Hatter’s Day competitions at the three-day show at Antrim Castle Gardens.

Visitors to the show were encouraged to get creative and showcase their skills as milliners for the day as they fashioned their own horticultural hats and headpieces with a variety of flowers, vegetables and foliage.

Tasked with the job of whittling down the wonderful hat creations to find their winners were an esteemed judging panel compered by UTV’s Pamela Ballentine. The panel included model-turned-horticulturist Marie Staunton and horticulturist-turned-milliner Marie-Claire Ferguson.

Ellie Nesbitt, from Antrim, with her prize-winning Mad Hatter’s Day design. Credit: Darren Kidd / Press Eye

Ellie created a beautiful headpiece with a careful combination of colours, taking inspiration from her daughter whose love for fairies shone through in her creation.

Meanwhile, Paula created a minimalist headpiece with beautiful honesty (Lunaria) picked from her own garden.

Judge Marie Staunton said: “It is fantastic to witness people of all ages getting involved in the show and taking part in our Mad Hatter’s Day competitions. Myself and Marie-Claire were tasked with rather tricky job of whittling down the winners amongst such great displays of creativity. Well done to all those who participated, we hope to see you again next year.”

Fellow judge Marie-Claire Ferguson added: “I was delighted to join the judging panel for this year’s Mad Hatter’s Day competitions. It is incredible to witness the creative flair demonstrated in people taking part, especially our winners Ellie and Paula. It is great to see so many new faces to the show this year as it continues to get bigger and better than ever.”

Pictured, from left: are competition judge and milliner Marie-Claire Ferguson, winners Paula Conroy and Ellie Nesbitt, fellow judge and horticulturalist Marie Staunton, and compere Pamela Ballantine. Credit: Garden Show Ireland

Both winners were presented with a hamper of artisan foods worth approximately £300, kindly donated by Food NI.

The three-dayshow also offered a host of activities to cater all ages, introducing six new show areas this year, including daily masterclasses led by Diarmuid Gavin, the ‘Have a Go at Gardening’ marquee which hosted a series of hands-on workshops throughout each day and the ‘pooch patch’ which provided information, demos and dog classes run by Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary.

See photos taken at the show on Friday here and on Saturday here.

Garden Show Ireland competitors rewarded for beautiful floral crowns