‘It’s transformed the village’: the volunteers greening up Britain’s train stations

A volunteer working in the gravel garden at Alresford railway station, in Essex. Photograph: Oliver Dixon

Every year since 1964, towns across the UK have bloomed with hanging baskets and brightly coloured flowerbeds planted by residents.

They wield their trowels in aid of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom competition, a coveted accolade for the 1,600 communities that enter each year.