New life for secret Abbey garden

The garden was originally maintained by monks to provide fruit and vegetables

A garden that was first used by Monks at Prinknash Abbey near Gloucester over 400 years ago has been given a new lease of life.

When the walled garden became too much for the Benedictine Monastic Order of Monks to maintain, they locked it away.

Matthew Haynes was the man who opened the door to the secret garden - and, as part of the Community Payback scheme, invited offenders on community sentences to help him tidy it up.

You can see right down through the valley all the way to Gloucester Cathedral, it's a spectacular place. Matthew Haynes

Matthew said: "It was the true image of a secret garden, the walls had fallen over and the weeds had grown up, there were brambles literally going over the top of the walls, the trees had overgrown to such a degree that it looked like a giant's garden."

The garden was originally maintained by monks to provide the abbey with fruit and vegetables, but fell into disrepair 30 years ago.

Matthew says one of the special things about the garden is its location: "We're on a vista over looking Gloucestershire, so you can see right down through the valley all the way to Gloucester Cathedral, it's a spectacular place.

(Before the work) The garden fell into disrepair 30 years ago

"In the last year we've worked with community payback and we've had nearly 7,000 community payback hours here, and we've been teaching skills as we've gone along."

People have gone away from here and they've got jobs in horticulture - one young man was in for serious alcoholism and theft, and now cuts people's lawns for a living."