The Japanese garden gem hidden in a cemetery

For 30 years, a little-known Japanese garden tucked away in a cemetery has provided a quiet place of reflection for bereaved relatives.

The award-winning site, behind the office at Danescourt Cemetery in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, is tended by a group of enthusiastic volunteers who see it as a hidden gem.

Although the land is owned by the City of Wolverhampton Council, it has been maintained since 2009 by members of the Japanese Garden Society (JGS).

Volunteer Roger Harris described the garden as "one of the nicest examples in the Midlands. We do feel it's a gem that should be appreciated by a lot more people".

The garden was designed by Peter Bridge, a former JGS member from Solihull who had never been to Japan, but studied Zen meditation and developed a passion for the country's distinctive style, from an early age.

"For a man who'd never actually seen one in real life, he had a remarkable talent," Harris said.

Bridge, who died a decade ago, designed gardens for private residences before being asked to work on a public space for the cemetery when it was extended.

Once it opened in 1996, the new garden was at first maintained by the council before the Midlands branch of the JGS took over.

In 2011, it won a Heart of England in Bloom award for the best Landscape Garden in the Heart of England, and the following year placed second in a Royal Horticultural Society competition.

The garden is an example of a karesansui "dry garden", with roofed enclosing walls and gravel representing water, the JGS said.

Harris, from Alcester, Warwickshire, remembered it as an overgrown "forest" when he first visited 17 years ago.

"On the first day we filled about two lorry loads," he said. "It went on like that for many weeks."

He said his "bug" for Japanese gardens had taken him on visits to sites in Japan, the United States, the Netherlands and Ireland.

"I think all the members would tell you very similar stories," he said.

"They're basically mini landscapes and, as we all know, the more time you spend in the countryside the better you feel for it."

The volunteers meet at Danescourt Cemetery six times a year, between May and October, on the first Saturday of each month.

Other members also maintain Japanese gardens in Coventry's War Memorial Park and Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

Society membership had dwindled since the pandemic, Harris said: "Like all societies these day, there's not a lot of young folks."

But a local gardening society has begun to lend a hand and Harris said he enjoyed the social side of his volunteering.

"The society is certainly a good place to learn things, even if you only attend the local things," he added.

"When you go to Japan and see the real thing you become a true convert."

Councillor Qaiser Azeem said he was "very grateful" for the hard work of the JGS volunteers.

He described the Japanese garden as "a beautiful place for visitors, offering a private and tranquil space for quiet reflection" and added: "I would like to recognise and thank the society volunteers for all that they do."

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