Students from Somerset College of Arts and Technology in Taunton have been given some free seeds from Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre for their university project.

Monkton Elm has donated a selection of wildflower seeds to Alice Wood and her fellow students for their business module.

Alice explained: “We would like to thank Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre for donating to our project. For our second year university business module, myself and four others from a range of art and design courses have collaborated.

“We have set up a business making handmade crafts as it is something we all enjoy doing. We took our inspiration from wildflowers and created a range of products including key rings, photo frames, headbands, notice boards, bunting and wrapping paper, which we then sold in a pop-up shop.

“As the business is based on wildflowers, we decided to promote the save the bees initiative and this is where the garden centre came in. Every time we sold one of our products, we gave some of the donated wildflower seeds to the customer. This will encourage people to plant wildflowers, which in turn contributes to the save the bees campaign.”

The number of bees in the UK has halved during the past 50 years. Of the 25 remaining native species of bee, a number are already under serious threat.

Norma Moore, General Manager of the award-winning, family-run, independent garden centre, explained: “We were delighted to donate 20 packets of wildflower seeds to Alice and her friends.

“It is a very important cause the students have chosen to support. The honeybee is in real peril, but every gardener can help by planting pollinator friendly plants in their gardens and allotments.

“It is really important to help keep numbers up and we can offer advice on the topic in-store if anybody would like to find out more.”