WORK has yet to begin on Gwent’s Specialist and Critical Centre (SCCC) project - but one small part of the site is already a hive of activity.

The Victorian walled garden at Llanfrechfa Grange, where the £350 million hospital will be built, is receiving a volunteer-run makeover to prepare it for a new role.

For decades, a wide variety of fruit and vegetables were grown in the garden - which covers around an acre - spanning a period during which Llanfrechfa Grange was, among other things, a lived-in mansion, a training centre for boys, a maternity hospital, and latterly - with accommodation and offices in its grounds - a long stay hospital for people with learning disabilities.

The garden had lain neglected for around 20 years until the first stirrings of a restoration project in 2014/15.

Since then a charity, The Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden, has been set up, and plans are being developed and acted upon to turn the garden into a space for patients, staff and the public who will use the SCCC, and also for the benefit of the wider community in the hospital’s catchment area.

A dedicated band of volunteers, many with current or former links with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and its predecessor organisations, are gradually transforming the garden.

And as spring progresses, they have benefited from some welcome support in the form of staff from a range of companies involved in the SCCC project - Gleeds, Laing O’Rourke, WSP, BDP, AECOM and contractors Alun Griffiths - through a ‘give and gain’ volunteering programme.

“It’s been invaluable for us, people have kindly given their time and with their help we’ve been able to get a lot of work done clearing and preparing different parts of the garden,” said trustee Jan Smith, who also chairs the charity.

“We want to create four different areas for the garden, and we are beginning to put together detailed plans.

“A couple of years ago, the garden was completely overrun with weeds and brambles. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve come a long way too.”

Anyone keen on learning more about the project, or becoming a member or volunteer, can find details at llanfrechfawalledgarden.wordpress.com