A COMMUNITY food initiative at Buckland Abbey has been hailed a growing success.

Buckland Food Growers Ltd has been working on the project since last spring, growing and rearing produce on a hectare of land at the National Trust's Buckland Abbey.

The project has received plenty of support, including a £12,000 grant from the Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund and continuing support from the National Trust.

Group member Jane Griffin said: 'Buckland Food Growers are so exhilarated to have been chosen for a grant from the DSDF. It will mean we can get off to a flying start.'

Group chair Lucy Wood said the project had undergone a great deal of growth from the original plan of simply growing vegetables.

'Over thirty local families and households across the Buckland Monachorum parish are now involved with the BFG, getting stuck in not just with growing vegetables but also with taking stewardship of an orchard with a view to cider production, bee husbandry and rearing pigs for pork.

'This is a project that's come from a community need to grow our own local, fresh and environmentally sustainable produce.'

Anybody interested in the group's work, or interested in joining the group, can visit http://www.bucklandfoodgrowers.co.uk">www.bucklandfoodgrowers.co.uk or contact Lucy Wood on [email protected]">[email protected]