Herb garden to spread wings.

A herb garden created in memory of a famous Northumberland botanist is to be showcased to a huge national audience when it is featured at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show next year.

A replica of the award-winning William Turner Garden in Carlisle Park, Morpeth, is to be created and given pride of place at the show, which attracted 170,000 visitors and generated 13 hours of TV coverage this year.

It is expected to help put Morpeth firmly on the tourism map and result in a major visitor boost for the town and Northumberland as a whole.

The garden was created to celebrate the life of 16th Century Morpeth-born herbalist William Turner, known as the father of English botany, as a direct response to requests from local people.

The only plants used are those that could be found in Turner's lifetime, 1508 to 1568, and the garden has three components; a physic garden, botanic garden and a medieval garden developed in terraces. Now a quarter-size replica of the original garden is to be created by students at the Kirkley Hall agricultural college and taken to the Chelsea Flower Show in May.

Local craftspeople will be employed to develop special elements of the garden, from stone carvers to tile manufacturers and oak timber structure makers, giving them a platform to market and promote their products to a national specialist market.