A GRIEVING husband is staging a fantastical Christmas lights show in the garden in memory of his late wife who helped create the landscaped rear of their West Devon home.

Jon Woodhouse and his wife Sarah lovingly created the garden at their Sampford Spiney house for nearly a decade before she died of lung cancer last year.

Jon has already raised £1,500 for St Luke’s Hospice through its public Open Garden Scheme and has now spent several weeks transforming the spaces into a constellation of festive lights and tableaux — despite a storm which ripped down 5,000 lights and damaged a pergola. 

The architect did the design work on the garden while his wife devised the planting scheme which has proved the perfect setting for the 25,000 lights and other decorations.

Children have found the Glow Garden a delight with Jon’s displays of mini cottages, a Nativity scene with toy guinea pigs, a cosy mock fireplace, floating candles, and lily lights, an illuminated fountain and glowing sunflowers. The light show continues inside his conservatory where visitors can also enjoy an indoor pond and homemade cakes and hot drinks. Visitors are asked to make donations towards St Luke’s Hospice.

Jon’s hard work has been hampered by the weather with heavy rain deterring visitors and wind ripping off the canopy of his pergola and severing the lighting cables.

He said: “I’m really pleased at how it turned out and it’s very popular, especially with the children. They are so excited to see things that are bright, colourful, and full of fantasy. The children love the guinea pigs in the Nativity scene, they also really like the mock fire hearth lit by a digital reel a nd the tiny Leonardo ceramic village scene which Sarah used to collect. My light fountain transfixes them, and they love putting the floating candles on the water, which light up only when they float.

“It really cheers me up to do it and see the how happy it makes the children. It’s a lovely tribute to Sarah as well because it’s in her favourite place the garden which she planned and planted as a horticulturist, while I designed and built the structure, I’d like to think she’s watching and enjoying it as well.”

Sarah was a teaching assistant for children requiring special needs support at St Peter’s School in Tavistock, a ceramic artist, and botanical painter. Jon said: “Sarah was so kind and patient with the children, she had such a wonderful way with them, inspiring confidence and giving them chance to express themselves. She’d be so delighted to know how happy the children have been seeing the lights.”

Due to the atrocious weather recently, Jon will add extras days after the planned close tomorrow (December 15th), and will now open on 16th, and from 20th - 23rd December from 5pm until 7pm each evening.