AN AMATEUR gardener from Swindon could soon be rubbing shoulders with green-fingered stars Alan Titchmarsh and Monty Don at the BBC Gardeners' World Live Show 2003.

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust volunteer, Helen Senior, 46, from Old Town has reached the final four in a competition to design a garden for this year's show at the NEC in Birmingham.

If her garden design is chosen as the final winner, it will be recreated as one of the exhibits at the NEC where it will be enjoyed by more than 30,000 expected visitors over the five day show which starts on June 11.

The selected garden will also be in line for further glory, being pitched against 20 other show gardens vying for the ultimate accolade a Royal Horticultural Society Gold Medal.

Helen, a volunteer with Twigs, a therapeutic garden project for people with mental health problems, said: "I have always had a keen interest in gardening. I suppose I learned most of what I know from my grandfather who was my main inspiration.

"I find that gardening helps me relax, I can lose myself in it. The only other garden design I have completed is a wildlife friendly garden I designed with a friend of mine at the Twigs therapy garden project."

Helen's garden, entitled The Journey Through Thyme, is based on the memories and experiences that come from the senses.

The garden includes bamboo plantations, a solar powered fountain and plenty of aromatic plants.

Helen said: "The planting of the garden was inspired by Beth Chatto and her gravel garden in Essex which I visited and fell in love with.

"If I win the Gardener's World competition, the biggest thrill will be to see my garden in three dimensions and I would love to actually walk around it."

Adam Pasco, a competition judge and editor of BBC Gardeners World Magazine, said: "This was the first time many of the competition entrants had designed a garden from scratch.

"All four finalists put an amazing amount of time and effort into their designs to produce inspiring results which captured the senses theme

"Unfortunately only one of them can be brought to life at the show in June."

Judges from the BBC show will decide which is the winning entry next week.