Countryside rose cultivated for charity

The rose is apricot in colour

A rose has been created in order to raise money for communities affected by foot-and-mouth disease.

The flower, called the "Countryside Rose" was cultivated by horticlutural supplier David White.

Between 14% and 21% of the money raised from sales of the rose, will go to the Addington fund, which has been specifically set up to help farming communities.

Mr White, 36, told BBC News Online: "As we only grow our roses on virgin soil each year, we rent all our land from farmers.

The experiences we came across sounded as if half of the country was living back in 16th Century-plagued Britain

David White, creator of rose

"We have seen how many kids are not going into the farming business.

"The experiences we came across sounded as if half of the country was living back in 16th century plagued Britain.

"The stories coming from Cumbria and Devon are the ones I remember, at one garden centre in the middle of a farming community they had not seen a customer for four weeks."

The idea for the charity flower has come from the rural interest organisation NFU Countryside and the company Paul Chessam Roses.

The company has designed charity flowers before, and a centre has been set up to handle calls for new orders.

Mr White added: "It became self evident that the rose we selected was the right one, it was traditional, with a countryside cottage type appeal to it."

On Wednesday, Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett admitted it would be "almost a miracle" if there were no more new cases of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain.