VOLUNTEERS have turned out in force to give a popular South Lakes beauty spot a ‘much-needed’ facelift.

The Ornamental Gardens at Grange-over-Sands have undergone five days of work to prune shrubs and tidy up the flower beds, as part of this week’s ‘Grange Community Gardening Week’.

The work on the site, which dates back to 1870, has extended to the promenade, station circle, sunken gardens and the Park Road gardens.

It has been carried out by community groups and volunteers, with the district council, town council and ‘landscape construction’ company, Continental Gardens.

“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,” explained a spokeswoman for the district council.

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

They are some 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.

They are now home to a population of rare wildfowl from around the globe.