A CHARITY running a community building in Chagford is celebrating after being able to re-open its garden area to users.

The Chagford Combined Charity was offered £10,000 from the BIG Lottery Fund in December 2012 to construct new walls for the garden of Endecott House, the community building managed day to day by the charity for the benefit of parishioners of Chagford.

The walls, which will make the garden safe to use by the community, replace the old walls which had subsided.

The original walls were first built in the 1980s.

The donation raised the total for the project to around £20,000, meaning the work could get the go-ahead.

The rest of the money has been raised from other grants including donations from West Devon Borough Council, Marjorie and Geoffrey Jones Trust, the Wake Fund at St Austell Brewery, and fundraisers have raised £4,000 for the project.

The work has now been completed, and the charity officially opened the garden on July 28, as part of the Chagford open gardens weekend organised to raise funds for St Michael's Church.

Rosemary Bleakman from Chagford Combined Charity said: 'Having this work done opens up so many possibilities for us and the community now.

'We have a luncheon club on a Monday, and with our ramp into the garden it means the elderly and disabled can go outside, eat out there and enjoy the space.

'It is also great for the children, and we are thinking about putting on films and performances in the garden too. There are so many possibilities now.

'Lots of people came over the weekend and saw the space for the first time, and really loved it.

'A south-facing enclosed space in a property like this in Chagford is something special.'