A COMMUNITY garden in the heart of Dawlish celebrates its grand opening today, Friday.

Westcliff Community Garden, opposite the gates of Westcliff Primary Academy, is to be officially opened on Friday April 29 by the Mayor of Dawlish, Cllr Val Mawhood.

The garden, which is on the former site of the school’s caretakers garden, has been a labour of love for those involved in revitalising the disused site.

Dawlish Mayor, Cllr Val Mawhood, will be formally opening the garden at 2pm whereby people are invited to stay, enjoy some refreshments and explore the garden during an open afternoon which will be running until 4.30pm.

With the help of volunteers from the wider community, school children have been developing the site for more than 12 months.

This work involved: clearing overgrown plants; putting up and painting fences; pruning trees; creating seating; fund-raising to cover equipment and maintenance costs and much more.

Off the back of this hard work, the garden now sports a pond, greenhouse, insect house, sensory area, an area for growing vegetables as well as dedicated space for cultivating mushrooms and work-specific areas.

The garden is also partly a memorial to a former young pupil of Westcliff Primary Academy with a specific part of the garden dedicated to him.

Westcliff Primary Academy is a large, coastal primary school which became part of the ‘First Federation Trust’ in February 2016 - the First Federation is a multi-academy trust of primary schools across Devon.