Churchgoers have battled weeds to turn a former allotment into an oasis of calm.

The overgrown piece of land has been transformed into a sculpture garden fit for meditation and relaxation, after a two-year project.

The garden was opened earlier this month at Cumnor United Reformed Church in Leys Road.

Diana Townsend, a church elder who came up with the idea, said: “We are very excited.

“The allotment was not able to be kept up and I thought we could turn it into a space everybody could enjoy.

“It is a calm, beautiful space with an African sculpture where people can just come, be quiet and reflect.”

As well as the sculpture, the garden features a place to sit and contemplate, and a spiral pathway.

About £3,000 was needed to convert the allotment into a place fit for meditation and relaxation.

The parishioners raised half of the money which was then matched by the church.

Villagers then set about creating the garden, which was opened on August 13.

Mrs Townsend said: “We are so happy it has actually got there. Clearing the weeds was quite a problem.

“We thought we would be able to do it all ourselves but the weeds kept coming back.

“In the end we had to get a gardener.

“There was a lot of physical labour involved and some of our younger members helped out.

“A lot of discussion went into what kind of plants to have and we feel we have got a very good mix. Now the garden is finished everybody is enthusiastic.”

Cumnor URC only has 22 regular worshippers but the garden is not an attempt to draw people in.

Mrs Townsend said: “We hope it is a gift to the community but it is very dangerous to think of projects as being pew-fillers.

“All congregations would like to be as big as possible but you can’t just do these projects and think people will flock into the church – it doesn’t work like that.

“We just want to share what we have with others.”

dfantato@oxfordmail.co.uk