Work on new woodland area near cemetery almost complete

* Jeanette Robinson and Mike Gleed of the Tidy Town Team plant a tree in the woodland area.

* David Davies, left, of the Tidy Town Team and John Gambles of the Mission Area get stuck into the tree planting. 

Work to transform an area of under-used woodland near St John’s Church off Abbey Road into a 'tranquil' outdoor area should be finished by the end of this month.

That's according to the man in charge of the Green Space project to sympathetically redevelop a 1.5-acre triangular-shaped piece of land between the river, the railway and the cemetery into what he described as a “tranquil area where people can find peace with themselves ... where they can sit, relax and contemplate.”

John Gambles leads the Valle Crucis Mission Area, the body which co-ordinates the work of 15 parish churches in the Dee Valley area and has led the project with cash from the Green Communities Project match-funded by St Collen’s Church.

Yesterday (Friday) volunteers from Llangollen's Tidy Town Team, who have been closely involved with the work since it began last year, were back on site to add the final touches to the woodland area in the shape of 20 new trees.

Mr Gambles said: "Work on the tranquil area will be finished by the end of this month with the pathways in place and the land cleared and tidied, and then it's a case of doing a little more work around the cemetery.

"Also included in the scheme is extending the existed limited car parking area for graveyard visitors by the removal of a privet hedge and the planting of a line of ornamental trees to screen it from the consecrated land set aside for the extension of the burial area, the creation of a small wildflower meadow plus the fixing of posts and chestnut palings along the rider side of the site."

He added: "The Tidy Town Team has done more good work for us by planting the trees in the woodland area.

"The 20 they have put in are a mixture of apple and quince trees, which have all been sourced in either north Wales or the border counties of England - the apples are from Bardsey Island off the Lyn Peninsula, so hopefully we will soon have an edible forest here. 

"Some trees, a number of which were diseased, were removed from the woodland area but logs from the healthy ones have been left on the ground to create a habitat for small mammals.

"Wildlife will also benefit from the 20 bird nesting boxes created for us by the technical department at Ysgol Dinas Bran and put in place ready for this year's breeding season.

"Everything that's been done will soon be turning green, so hopefully this will be a lore more pleasant place."