The finals of popular gardening competitions have been cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

The Royal Horticultural Society's Britain in Bloom finals have been cancelled to avoid prevent increasing the spread of COVID-19. Cumbria in Bloom, the county organisation have also announced that events are postponed to 2021

In a statement the Royal Horticultural Society said: "Communities put huge year-round effort into Britain in Bloom to the benefit of both people and the environment and we know our 70 finalists will be very disappointed.

"The decision has not been taken lightly and we hope that many groups will want to participate again in 2021."

Due to new government guidance on social distancing, the RHS has decided that it is not currently possible for finalists to carry out their community gardening activities as they would.

They said: "We thank those involved for all the hard work they've put in so far to make the UK, a cleaner, greener and more beautiful place and their amazing community spirit that will be very important to people in the difficult times ahead."

The RHS Britain in Bloom competition sees 3,500 community groups and over 250,000 local volunteers working to year-round to keep their neighbourhoods presentable, clean and green.