Not just hanging baskets and litter: Former Tidy Towns judge on what makes a winner

Christopher Fitz-Simon on the competition's judging process, his favourite and least favourite places in Ireland, and the Cork town where he'd love to live

Christopher Fitz-Simon spent 27 years as a Tidy Towns judge, beginning in 1991. Picture: Moya Nolan

For three months of the year, they walk among us. Silent as spies, they scour our streets, peer into our parks, and dodge hanging baskets, undetected and unknown, the most unsocial of influencers.

"Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Supervalu Tidy Town Judges cometh,” entrants are warned. Yea, though they may walk through the Valley of Dreariness, no filthy frappuccino cup shall they fear.