SIMPLY gorgeous. At the risk of sounding fey, quite magical.

The Forgotten Garden of Lewtrenchard is one of those wonderful corners of rural West Devon where time seems to stand still — or at least, it would have felt like that, had it not been for the insistent battering of a mini digger gouging up the lane close by.

And what a setting — slightly above the beautiful Lewtrenchard Manor and to the side of the Grade I Listed St Peter's Church, the views extend along the stunning Lew Valley — it's Devon at its finest.

The romantic-sounding title is actually a bit of a misnomer however. No Lost Garden of Heligan, this four-acre site is more of a woodland walk, but when you are shown around the narrow, winding paths by two of the people who have ploughed thousands of hours of time into rescuing the glen from almost 90 years of undergrowth and neglect, it takes on new meaning.

The Friends of the Forgotten Garden of Lewtrenchard was established in 2007 to 'research, restore and maintain' the woodland garden, after its remains were discovered the year before.

Michael Coxson, chairman of the friends' group, said it was believed that Sabine Baring Gould, that famous Victorian of 'Onward Christian Soldiers' fame, prolific author and avid collector of folk music, created the garden for his wife Grace in around 1913.

It was about this time that he re-constructed a Holy well in the glen — the Edwardian woodland garden he intended to create in the little valley was to enable Grace, who was crippled with arthritis, to take exercise close to the family house on the Lewtrenchard estate.

Prior to this, according to Grace's daughter Joan, the glen was 'a mass of bluebells, primroses and wild violets. The white violets nestled under the old trees. There was always a rush to get them, as my mother loved them, as she did all flowers. They were just a part of her being'.

Michael said: 'It's believed she loved to walk in the glen. But it was created in 1913 — the following year, the war broke out and there would have been no-one to carry on the work in the garden.

'Then Grace died in 1916 and that was probably it.'

The reverend himself, heart-broken by the loss of his wife and in deteriorating health, died at the age of 90 in 1924. Nature claimed back the garden, trees grew unchecked and soon there was nothing to suggest the area had any historic or sentimental significance.

It was in 2006 that the local history society, Lewdown Past, discovered traces of an old woodland garden, during their search to find the site of Sabine's Holy well.

The original stones for the well had been removed in 1928 to create a rose garden at Lewtrenchard Manor and the old well was capped with concrete. The site disappeared completely, hidden by undergrowth.

A photograph dating from 1914 and the discovery of a glazed pipe protruding from a storm water course provided clues as to the whereabouts of the well. By tracing back the pipe, the plinth and base, the old Holy well was finally found.

Michael became involved in the re-emerging garden some five years ago.

'Because I live on the estate, I'm interested in Baring Gould, interested in anything to do with the estate and its history. I was asked to come and help clear some stones — never agree to clearing stones, it doesn't stop there!

'People say "What's the point, why bother?" but on the other hand, you feel you are doing something that should be done.

'Sabine was quite an amazing person, slightly off-centre. Grace was a factory girl from Yorkshire, nearly 20 years his junior. He actually sent her away for two years to be educated because he didn't want her to be ridiculed.

'They were married for 48 years and when she died, her epitaph was 'Half my life'.

Brian Wilkinson has been involved in the restoration of the garden from the first.

He said: 'We started off with a lot of people very interested, I think there were about 20 to 25 people on that first day, although there aren't so many now.

'I just feel a sense of responsibility to keep it going now. Some people have given quite a lot of money towards the project, especially the Baring Gould family, so I feel committed to keep going.

'Having got this far, it would be such a shame if it reverted back to how it was.

'I'm very interested in ecology and the environment. I've lived in this area all my life — in May and June you would always see the swallows and hear cuckoos in these woods, yet I've not heard one here for at least three years now.

'I can't help thinking something serious is happening to the environment and that's why we don't see or hear some of these things, so it's nice to do a little bit to help the environment.

'I don't use any pesticides or insecticides here — it does make the work harder though!'

Indeed, Brian's commitment to the garden earned him this year's West Devon mayoral conservation award — he said to be considered for such an award had been 'a great surprise', but Michael pointed out, it has given the friends' group, 'quite a boost' in raising the profile of the garden.

Apart from the continuing battle to clear the healthy spread of brambles, clearly enjoying the fact the thinned-out tree canopy now allows sunshine into the glen, new planting of shrubs and saplings takes place regularly when donations and finances allow.

Thanks to the volunteers' hard work, a beautiful, clear water pond now sits serenely in the glen, a giant, primeval-looking gunnera, so beloved of those Victorian gardeners, placed at its head.

Presently, the woodland is a mass of bluebells and campions — in the undergrowth, there's the constant rustle of foraging birds or the odd skitter of a startled rabbit.

New projects are also planned. The friends' group intends to refurbish the old pigsty and the area around it and to start work on the restoration of a two-storey building believed to have been an old vegetable clamp or possibly an ice house.

The signage and interpretation for visitors is to be improved and animal-friendly facilities such as bird boxes and an 'insect-hotel', installed in conjunction with St Peter's School, are in the pipeline.

Brian spends four or five hours a week working in the garden and quite clearly is deeply attached to the place.

'To work up here, or just to sit up by the pond, with the sun in your face listening to the birds singing — it's just lovely,' he said.

It's easy to see his point. Damn that digger!