A NEGLECTED £19,000 tranquillity garden created to aid patients? recovery at Okehampton Hospital is being revived by local volunteers this week after it was slammed as disgusting and a disgrace. The pioneering Japanese garden which was designed to be viewed from hospital beds was leaving patients and staff depressed by the sight of its parched moss and lack of colour. But this week the Friends of Okehampton Hospital, helped by the Okehampton Rangers, have taken on Ground Force proportions to try and rescue the garden back from neglect. Lack of maintenance and funding, inappropriate planting and the vetoing of an automatic sprinkler system because of fears over Legionnaire?s disease have been highlighted as reasons why the garden, created by a team of gardeners from Japan, has failed. Dee Young from the friends? group said after consulting many people it was decided to go ahead with a scheme that emulated Dartmoor in a small way with heathers and local stone and lots of colour throughout the season. Through local fundraising the group has been able to spend £1,000 so far on the project. She said: ?We hope to have a lovely garden again which will be pleasant to look at all year round. ?The first stage is weeding and clearing the area but we cannot say when it will be completed as that depends on suppliers.? Slate, stones and pebbles, spring bulbs, flowers beds and autumn colour will feature in the garden which provides a place for patients to sit outside as well as benefitting those confined to their beds. The low maintenance planting will mean volunteers can keep on top on it. Renowned Japanese garden designer Mr Kasai and his team were flown in to Okehampton to create the original garden which was heralded as representing a pioneering approach where calming plants and green spaces were used to improve inner health. Famous for their minimalistic landscapes, the Japanese gardeners included traditional banks of moss and Japanese acers. Friends member and local county and town councillor Christine Marsh said the whole ethos of the hospital was about well-being and there were other ways in which patients could be helped as well as medicine. ?The state of the garden was disgusting ? it needed weeding and there was no maintenance,? she said. ?To look out on a garden and something that is living uplifts you a bit and that is what it was all about ? it was a great idea but with the hospitals all in debt and the financial pressures on the primary care trusts, the ongoing maintenance of the garden did not feature on their programme.? She said funding for the project came from the PCT and private donations and plants that had been removed such as the silver birch trees had been re-located to areas like Simmons Park. Spokesman for the primary care trust Nick Pearson said the trust was extremely grateful to the friends of the hospital and the wider community for the support they had given to the hospital. He said: ?Time and again their actions have shown a commitment not just to the clinical side of our work by providing equipment and so on but also to patients? emotional needs. ?We have been working with the group and are confident that the plants selected will survive the harsh conditions of the courtyard in the future.?