GO and admire Garry Carter's beautiful blooms at The Dawnay Arms at Shipton-by-Beningbrough, near York - they're lovely.

Admittedly a couple of hanging baskets might pale in comparison with the mainstays of pub decor such as sticky beer mats, dusty ornaments and novelty spirit bottles.

But Garry, 40, and wife Pam, 43, have nabbed £100 from Pubmaster in recognition for their colourful pots and a revamped beer garden area at the back of the boozer.

It's reward indeed for ten months' hard work at the A19 business which they took on from a family who ran the show for a mighty 16 years.

Garry, who has swapped sandwiches for pork scratchings after 17 years with Marks and Spencer in York, said he has ploughed an enormous amount of effort and money into brightening up the pub.

He said: "It's the only pub in the village, and people should have somewhere where they are comfortable and families feel they can come to."

The Dawnay Arms has been off the Bar Talk radar for a few years now, but Garry and Pam promise things have changed for the better.

Even the specials board, which is reputed not to have changed for ten years, has been replaced, as a new chef takes to the kitchen.

So, if it's a sunny afternoon and you want to admire some perennials over a pint, you know where to go.

Updated: 09:40 Saturday, September 27, 2003