CUSHIONS, cards, and chocolate carriages lined the office at County Hall where judges of our Queen's Jubilee Gift Competition were agonising over their decision.

But in the end it was a retired architect from Longton who will be presenting his gift to The Queen when she visits Preston next month.

Douglas Holloway, 78, of Liverpool Road, won the judges' hearts with his beautiful watercolour of the River Hodder at Whitewell, in the Forest of Bowland.

The grandfather-of-two has many talents and worked as a principal designer for Lancashire County Council for 25 years. It took him five hours to create the stunning masterpiece that stole the judges' hearts.

His passion of the Lancashire countryside is something Douglas shares with Her Majesty who is reported to have expressed a desire to live by the River Hodder if she were to step down from public duties.

"This is where the Queen has said she would like to live if she were to retire. I love the countryside. We are so lucky to be surrounded by such rugged and beautiful land," said Douglas.

According to the Lord Lieutenant who led the judging panel, Douglas's picture was one of many possible gifts that The Queen would have been thrilled to receive.

Lord Shuttleworth said: "I am delighted so many people have taken an interest and produced such a varied selection of entries to mark the jubilee visit."

And Sir Tom Finney said: "It was a very difficult choice to make because the standard of entries was so good and there were so many different types of possible presents."