Lowther Castle ceramic daffodils on sale for charities

The clay flowers will be on display in the castle grounds for two months from 24 April

A total of 15,000 ceramic daffodils made by an army of volunteers at a Cumbrian castle have gone on sale to raise money for charities.

It has taken a team of 350 volunteers at Lowther Castle, near Penrith, three months to glaze and kiln the flowers.

The project, overseen by potter Helen Ratcliffe, was inspired by William Wordsworth's famous poem, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.

The flowers will be on display at the castle from 24 April to 24 June.

More than 350 volunteers took three months to make the thousands of clay flowers

Wordworth's poem mentions 10,000 daffodils but Ms Ratcliffe said she had been inspired by the enthusiasm of volunteers to increase the daffodil target.

"We started having sessions in December to make the daffodils and we had people turning up every week to help," she said.

"We decided to make more for two reasons, to make more money for the charities and hopefully to make an even more spectacular display. The flowers are beautifully finished."

Artist Helen Ratcliffe said the enthusiasm of volunteers inspired her to raise the target from 10,000 to 15,000 clay flowers

Eight hundred of the flowers - which cost £25 each - have already been sold since going on sale on Wednesday, raising £20,000.

It is hoped they will all sell, which would raise £375,000 for six charities including the Sunbeam Music Trust, Another Way and Friends of the Ullswater Way.

In the poem, Wordsworth describes seeing thousands of flowers "at a glance" and Ms Ratcliffe hopes that is what visitors to the castle will experience.

She said she also took inspiration from the ceramic poppies displayed at the Tower of London in 2014.

Eight hundred flowers were sold in two days