A sea of beautiful, blooming poppies will wash over the Sid Valley this summer, thanks to gardeners who planted more than 900,000 seeds this week.

On Tuesday, Sidmouth in Bloom (SiB) organised a mass-planting of poppies on the large grass verge at The Bowd.

The flowers have been planted as way to commemorate the end of World War One and to honour those who lost their lives in the conflict, as well as to make the town more attractive.

Sidmouth Town Council provided the seeds, while Richard King, of Kings Garden and Leisure, from Exmouth, supplied the tractor and rotavator to help prepare the ground.

The town council recently took on the maintenance of public grass areas around the town from Devon County Council and has recently cut and tidied the whole Bowd area.

Councillor Ian Barlow said: “Anything we can do working with local organisations and businesses that improves our town and valley for little cost should be encouraged.

“Along with our town clean-up days, it’s great to see local businesses helping us improve the town, rather than just expecting someone else to do it.

“If we want to be different and better than other towns, the time has come to get off our backsides and work together to benefit us all.”

When asked why the town council had taken on more grass-cutting, Cllr Barlow said: ”Larger councils have to prioritise on their statutory requirements and money for gardening and litter collection is getting increasingly scarce, so, local businesses providing a few minutes of time a week to help do a project in the valley - or just clear their area of the town - gives huge benefits to us all. We all have a role to play if we want our community to be better.

“Customers should complain to the shops in town if they feel they are not keeping their bit clean and praise/spend in them if they make an extra effort and tell them why. It requires very little effort to make a big difference.”

SiB’s Lynette Talbot said: “I think they [poppies] will look spectacular - we have also included some wildflowers, so there’ll be a mix.

“It is not just to celebrate SiB, but to celebrate 100 years since World War One and Sidmouth RAF, which I think had a medical base in the town.

“It will be a nice way for visitors to be greeted into the town.”