THE streets of Chester city centre are awash with flowers, bees and butterflies as part of a brand new summer campaign created by CH1ChesterBID.

Specially-made catenaries are now hanging overhead in the main streets of the city after being installed by the city's Business Improvement District (BID).

The colourful decorations depict a range of flowers with bees and butterflies and are just one element of this year's Chester in Bloom activity, which will include a free city-wide nature-themed trail later this summer.

In addition, floral displays – which have become an annual feature for the city centre thanks to CH1ChesterBID – have been placed at key locations across the city.

This year there are around 180 planters with more than 5,000 plants in a range of different colours. The mix incorporates the CH1ChesterBID colours, with the BID team currently seeking support from local businesses on a renewal ballot to continue making improvements in the city centre for another five years.

Brand new this year is a series of high-level floral sculptures, which have been strung across Bridge Street, Eastgate Street, Foregate Street, Frodsham Street, Northgate Street, St Werburgh Street and Watergate Street.

The sculptures include giant butterflies and bumblebees and will be a key part of the city-wide trail, which aims to increase footfall and dwell time across the city centre this summer.

Nick White, city centre manager for CH1ChesterBID, said: "We've worked hard again this year to make the city centre as bright and attractive as possible for the summer months and now that everything is in place, we're thrilled with the results.

"The floral displays we install in Chester each year make the city a greener, more welcoming place for all those that live, work or visit the city and that's one of our key objectives as a BID.

"This year's theme is all about bees and butterflies, so we wanted to take that and make sure it felt like summer all over the city centre.

"The catenaries we've installed above the city’s streets have created a really visual and eye-catching display above ground.

“Across the Rows, we have thousands of flowers to help showcase the array of independent and specialist shops that are on the Row-level and drive more footfall into those areas. They include fragrant herbs and nectar-rich flowers that are particularly attractive to butterflies and bees.”

Last year, CH1ChesterBID achieved a Silver Gilt in the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) North West in Bloom awards for its Purple Flag themed floral displays. The judges will be returning in July as part of the 2019 awards to judge the city’s latest efforts.

A number of local businesses have also helped with this year's floral installations by planting barrier baskets on Foregate Street, with green-fingered volunteers from Wilko, McDonalds, Marks & Spencer, Primark and Tesco all lending a helping hand.

There's a strong Chester connection with the flowers too, with many of them being supplied by Walkers Plant Centre, based in Huntington.

“There’s always great support from our BID member businesses when we install the planters and it’s been fantastic to have support from so many willing volunteers again,” said Nick.

“We’d also like to thank Cheshire West and Chester Council who have also supported us with the floral installations and will help to keep the flowers watered in the weeks ahead.

“We’re looking forward to another great summer in the city and hope local residents will make the most of it and enjoy spending time in the city centre.”

More details on the nature-themed trail will be announced later this summer, with maps expected to be available from the Visitor Information Centre and the www.experiencechester.co.uk website.

For more information on the work that CH1ChesterBID plans to achieve over the next five years, visit www.ch1chesterbid.co.uk.