GREEN-fingered villager Roger Brook is just blooming marvellous.

His handiwork has transformed an overgrown cemetery into a colourful, cultivated garden.

It's been a long project - 20 years to date, but Mr Brook's hard work has been recognised by judges hosting the first national Cemetery of the Year Award.

The one-acre burial site at All Saints' Church, Bolton Percy, near York, is one of 12 finalists in the competition.

The site is one of six finalists in the open cemetery categories.

Mr Brook, who was a lecturer in horticulture at Askham Bryan College for 30 years, said he was spurred on to transform the cemetery because it was so overgrown that people could not see the graves.

He said: "I lived in the village, but didn't go to church and thought I would offer my expertise to clear up the churchyard - and it developed into a garden.

"I thought I ought to do my bit and knocked on the rector's door. He asked the congregation that night, and I was away."He insists it is a hobby and spends just two hours a week tending the garden.

He says: "My philosophy is: take care of the weeds and the plants will take care of themselves."

And he says patience is a vital ingredient too: "It has to be gradual. It is gardening by evolution, not revolution."

He said he was delighted to reach the finals of the competition and hoped the awards would encourage other people to spruce up overgrown and neglected cemeteries.

He said: "There is a lot of potential for other church yards to do the same thing."

The judges said cemeteries had been assessed on design, memorials, environmental management and links with the local community.The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Winter Gardens in Eastbourne on September 23.

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