A KINGSMEAD gardener has won the trip of a lifetime after scooping an international award.

Rob Chisholm, a franchisee of Jim’s Mowing, has been named the JMG Gardener of the Year for 2017.

He previously won the national title in 2015 and 2016.

This year he beat off competition from more than 300 rivals to be named the outright winner after going head-to-head against the winners in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

He is now due to fly out to Australia to attend the competition’s ceremony on January 30.

Rob will spend three weeks working at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne.

He said: “I’ve done some work in Tatton Gardens in the past and some work in other large gardens in the UK, but this is just the ultimate experience.

“I do a lot of small gardens as well. I still get the same buzz as with the big ones.”

Rob was nominated for the award by one of his customers. Judges were then shown examples of his work and then rang around 100 customers to gauge how satisfied they were with his team’s work.

He found out he had won the award last month.

Rob, who lives with the wife and two children in Kingsmead, started his own business and was recruited by national company Jim’s Mowing in the spring of 2014.

He said: “We have only been running five years but we are growing from strength to strength. We have taken on more gardeners this year. We keep growing the business.

“There’s a big call in Northwich for good gardeners. There are people who do it and people who don’t know how to do it.

“We’re doing really well. I have a really good team around me.”