SUPPORTERS of this year's Tavistock and District Festival are in for an exclusive treat — half-way through the eight-day schedule, the arts event will move out to the spectacular venue of Buckland Abbey to stage a gardening evening.

Festival-goers will be the first to enjoy a full-guided tour of the new Elizabethan garden currently being built at the popular National Trust property.

Head gardener Sally Whitfield will lead the tour and give a talk about the garden's development.

The chance to created something new came about when a row of 500-year-old yew trees died.

'That opened up a new view of the surrounding landscape but left us with an area of plain grass,' explained Sally.

Festival chair Sue Spackman said the first tour of the Elizabethan garden — due to be open to the public next year — fitted in neatly with the festival's 'new beginnings' theme.

'We will also provide food and drink and there will be a musical element, all of which we hope will fit in with an Elizabethan theme,' said Sue

'Our aim is to run a festival with something which appeals to people of all ages and all interests and I expect our Buckland Abbey evening will generate a huge response, such is the interest in gardens and gardening.'

The festival runs from September 24 to October 1 and is being run in conjunction with the Tavistock and West Devon Writers' 'Writing on the Wild Side' programme.