THE snowdrops are out and the daffodils are on their way at a village’s newly-opened public garden.

Wychwood Wild Garden in the west Oxfordshire village of Shipton-under-Wychwood used to be the pleasure garden of Shipton Court, which sits opposite in High Street, and dates back to at least 1790.

But in 2009 the owner decided he wanted to hand it over to the community, and a group of residents formed to buy it.

At a rate of £1,000 a week, the group raised the £70,000 needed – £50,000 to buy it and £20,000 to restore it.

About 250 residents helped with the appeal, putting on film nights, dances and bring-and-buy sales. Charities and trusts also donated.

The group’s chairman Mike Watson said it had been exhausting work.

But he added: “It feels great now that we have met the requirement of it being owned and managed by the community.

“It’s open to everyone, and is an amenity to both residents and visitors to the area.”

Mr Watson said he had always enjoyed walking in the garden and the opportunity to buy it for the community was too good to miss.

He said: “These opportunities don’t come along very often.

“We are surrounded by fields, but there aren’t that many places where people can walk and feed ducks and enjoy themselves.

“This is somewhere in the centre of the village they can do that.”

The gardens are now well used by the community, with dog-walkers, couples and young families all visiting regularly.

The 12.5-acre site includes wild woodland, a long avenue and a network of ponds.

Mr Watson said the challenge now was getting the balance between wilderness and public amenity.

He added: “It’s called the wild garden and people want to keep it wild, but we also want to keep the formality of the avenue and the water system.”

He said the group also faced the prospect of having to raise additional money to keep the garden open.

He said: “It’s going to cost us £5,000 or £6,000 a year just to manage it, and then on top of that any additional projects will require additional funding.

“It’s a reasonably big task.”

But he said the project had been worth it and he still found time to walk around the site at least every other day.

He said: “At this time of year it is wonderful.

“You get a culmination of trees going to bud and snowdrops along the path.”

witney@oxfordmail.co.uk For more information about the garden, visit wychwoodwildgarden.org.uk