A COLCHESTER gardener has won a competition to help design a garden at the Olympic Park.

Rachel Read, from Layer de la Haye, was short-listed in the adult category of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Olympic Park Great British Garden Competition.

Her design was posted online alongside the other finalist, for the public to vote for their favourite.

She beat hundreds of rivals to work with professional designers to help create the quarter-acre garden in the London 2012 park.

Rachel will be joined by the children’s category winner, 11-year-old Hannah Clegg, from Wiltshire.

Rachel said: “It was fantastic to have been shortlisted and overwhelming to win. I’d like to thank everyone who supported my entry and voted for my design.”