Premature babies and children at a primary school are set to benefit from a charity summer sunflower trail which raised a bumper £7,252.

Now the money is to be split between Friends of Haslington Primary School and Leighton Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, each receiving £3,626,

Alex and Simon Lewis planted hundreds of sunflowers on their Crewe Green farm to mark their 10th wedding anniversary and the 100th year of the Lewis family being tenants on the Duchy of Lancaster-owned farm.

The sunflowers were planted around the perimeter of a maize field – all of which are being harvested in the autumn ready to be used as livestock feed.

The adventure trail took visitors on a route that was around 1km long. A path allowed visitors to immerse themselves in the field in a way they wouldn't normally experience along with information sheets.

Sandbach Nub News told last month how the couple opened up the attraction, Crewe Green Sunflowers, to the public, much to the delight of hundreds of people who visited during the school holidays.

Scores of visitors flocked to the trail, which contained more than 150,000 sunflowers in over a hectare of land from as far away as London and Bolton.

The attraction was so popular the couple decided to keep it open for longer, extending it over the Bank Holiday weekend to give people extra time to visit.

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And the event was such a big hit that the Lewis family are going to make it an annual event and will soon be busy making plans for next year's.

Both of the Lewis's two children spent time in NICU. Their son Dexter was born full term and needed antibiotics and a week in an incubator and while daughter Penny was born premature at 29 weeks and was in the NICU for 52 days.

Alex said: "We just wanted people to have a good time and enjoy themselves. Everyone missed out during the lockdowns and sunflowers evoke happiness for so many people.

"We're overwhelmed with the success of the trail and thank everyone for their support. Honestly it was such a lovely few weeks meeting and greeting people. Everyone left beaming.

"We're delighted to say we're planning on doing another sunflower trail next year."