Places features

Cans and other rubbish spoil the Secret Garden.

The Secret Garden lies in a hollow alongside one of the main paths through Dean Road and Manor Road Cemetery in Scarborough. A brand new community group of 'Friends' has been formed recently with the aim of improving the Cemetery's environment, including the sadly neglected Secret Garden.

There are winding paths through the garden and a small pond and stream at its centre which have become silted up and difficult to see. Mature trees and beautiful rockeries surround the space but its original Victorian design is difficult to see underneath the detritus and vegetation.

The cemetery is a valuable wildlife habitat but the Secret Garden currently provides limited wildlife benefit. Once renovated the garden would include a variety of different habitat types such as water, trees, understorey plants and mini-beast homes.

An iron gate used to be attached to this rock.

The garden was originally a very attractive and tranquil place but is currently very overgrown and full of rubbish. It is in danger of being lost altogether if action is not taken soon. Many people are unaware it exists, making the 'Secret Garden' an even more appropriate name than it once was. If you look closely, a large rock still bears the marks where a stone gate was once attached at the entrance to the garden.

One of the 'Friends', Tony Rowley visited the area with Roger Burnett from Scarborough Borough Council's Parks and Gardens department to assess the extent of work needed to restore the Secret Garden. Although the cemetery is quite a popular open space at the moment, improving the garden would have the potential to attract many more people by providing a natural gem at its centre. The site needs extensive work to clear it out, clean out the stream and pond, remove non-native and invasive species as well as rebuilding the rockery edging and improving access.

Roger Burnett and Tony Rowley in the Secret Garden

The Friends of Dean Road and Manor Road Cemetery was only formed in March 2008 and is currently in the early stages of drawing up plans for improvements to the area. However, one of its main aims is to be able to get the Secret Garden project under way with the help of Scarborough Borough Council and other groups, such as local schools and conservation volunteers.