Forget about this week's Chelsea Flower Show, a garden oasis, featuring bees, plants and craft stalls, is set to spring up in the middle of a busy Kent shopping area.

Whitefriars in Bloom launches in the centre of Canterbury on Saturday, May 28, and will have free activities including live jazz, face painting plus plant and crafts stalls throughout the day.

A showpiece garden and related activities will reflect the Royal Horticultural Society’s theme for the year of wellbeing.

Joining forces with the Fifth Trust, which gives work opportunities to adults with learning difficulties, the Elham-based charity’s team and students have designed and created the garden and will be tending it through the summer. Canterbury Beekeepers will also have a bee display.

There’ll be prizes up for grabs during the summer with competitions supported by Jessops and Cowling & Wilcox and the centre is also sponsoring a book by Martyn Barr, No Lovelier Place, along with a teachers’ guide for local schools.

Whitefriars marketing manager Julie Holness said: “Everyone loves flowers and there’s no better place to be than in beautiful Canterbury in the warm sunshine, dining al fresco or simply sitting and soaking up the cosmopolitan atmosphere.”

The activities on Saturday run from 11am to 4pm, and there will be a host of others throughout the summer, including children’s workshops and a summer market from Monday, July 11 to Sunday, July 31.

For details visit www.whitefriars-canterbury.co.uk