ORNAMENTAL gardens at a popular beauty spot are being given a much-needed make-over by volunteers.

Organisers of Grange Community Gardening Week are looking for additional volunteers to help with work on the historic gardens which date back to the 1870s.

The week of events, which started on Monday and runs until Friday, is the result of a partnership between South Lakeland District Council, Continental Landscapes, Grange Town Council, community groups and volunteers.

Staff from Continental Landscapes are in Grange all week to work with the volunteers and gardening equipment and tools will be available. Volunteers will also be pruning overgrown shrubs and tidying up the ornamental beds.

The ornamental gardens, sunken gardens and Park Road Gardens were tackled on Monday and Tuesday and today Grange Promenade is being worked on.

Gardening work on the promenade will continue tomorrow and the Station Circle at Church Hill will be tackled on Friday.

The gardens and pond are home to a population of rare wildfowl from around the globe.

Also designed as a flood relief system, the level of the ornamental pond rises and falls depending on the weather.

The gardens were originally laid out by the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway and were filled with exotic shrubs and trees from around the world.

It is one of the earliest and most complete railway gardens in Britain and the attraction was created to give a striking vista from the Grange Hotel which was designed by the renowned architect Edward Paley.

The relatively good condition of the gardens today has largely been down to the significant partnership work between the Three Parks group, Grange Town Council and South Lakeland District Council.

If you would like to be a volunteer please contact Deborah Wright at South Lakeland District Council on 01539 793 434 or email Deborah.wright@southlaleland.gov.uk