Dorchester, the county town of Dorset, is being taken over by beautiful bright sunflowers this summer to raise money for Dorset County Hospital’s Emergency and Critical Care Appeal.

After the success of last year, Dorchester’s Summer of Sunflowers is back and bigger than ever! Visitors are invited to visit the town centre to see a sunflower extravaganza. From mid-July, beautiful sunflower sculptures will be suspended across South Street, and the eco-friendly Sunflower paintings on South Street will be given a new lease of life as the paint is refreshed.

Head around town to see spectacular sunflower-themed shop windows. In each shop, visitors will be able to donate to the charity and are encouraged to vote for their favourite shop windows through an online vote.

Dorchester Town Council are funding the town centre sunflower sculptures and organising the sunflower shop window display competition. Much like last year, they are hoping that the sunflowers will add a welcoming vibrancy to the town this summer and put smiles on the faces of visitors and locals alike.

Dorchester Town Council will work closely with Hazel Hoskin, from Maiden Castle Farm, who is organising this year’s Dorset Sunflower Trail.

Some 750,000 sunflower seeds have been planted to create two spectacular trails for visitors from far and wide. As well as the stunning Sunflower Trail, visitors can also enjoy local ice creams, rest up at the café or bring a picnic and take home cut sunflowers or souvenirs from the Sunshine Shack. Half the proceeds of ticket sales will go to this year’s chosen charity, Dorset County Hospital’s Emergency and Critical Care Appeal.

Hazel said: “We’ll have to wait and see what the weather brings before we can provide the exact dates the sunflower trails will open but keep an eye on our website so that you can book your tickets early as soon as they go on sale. We’ve also got an amazing raffle with prizes including a fantastic driftwood sculpture and driftwood art workshops, to create your own sculpture to take home. Plus, Sundowner events in the evening – perfect for watching the sun set over the sunflowers.”

This year, there will also be an early evening Sunflower Stride fun run through the sunflower fields and around Maiden Castle! Two choices of routes will be available - 5km and 10km.

Especially exciting is the Sunflower Summer Spectacle that will take place on Saturday August 24th. Head down to South Street between 11am and 3pm for a fun family activities for all ages. There will be competitions with great prizes, crazy golf, face paint and more!

Get your creative head on and compete to build the best Lego flowers and insects. There will be a great prize for the best lego creation in each of the following age categories (Under 8s, 9 to 12, 13+).