From 'This Is Gloucestershire' 23rd March 2009.
A historic garden is being given a new lease of life thanks to offenders who have gone off the straight and narrow.
When the 400-year-old walled garden at Prinknash Abbey, near Painswick, became too much for the Benedictine Monastic Order of Monks to maintain, volunteer Matthew Haynes stepped in with an idea and as part of Community Payback, offenders on community sentences were drafted in to tidy it up.
Matthew's idea is taking it further – not only are they restoring it to its former glory but transforming it in to a recreational, educational, and meditative space.
The job is not yet complete, but the project has come a long way in around a year. It won a prize at Gloucestershire's first local Justice Awards on Wednesday.
The garden was so overgrown that Matthew let a herd of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs loose to clear the brambles and nettles.
Then the Community Payback offenders came in to clear land, rake paths and do any number of jobs that brings it back to life.
On a sunny Friday in March, it is a beautiful space to be in.
But the offenders have been here come rain or shine.
"Many people would say 'That's not punishment, it's gardening'," said Matthew. "That is true if you are working on your own small garden or allotment.
"But this is a big project, there's a lot of work to do and when they come here, they have to be here at a certain time, do seven hours' work, and not use their mobile phone or smoke except during breaks.
"For a lot of people who have had not structure to their lives, that's a big change."
A big part of the project's success lies in hard graft – the monks are pleased to be able to contribute to the rehabilitation of offenders particularly as the rule of St Benedict encourages manual labour, as "idleness is the enemy of the soul".
Garry Holden, an assistant chief officer of Gloucestershire Probation, said the scheme is ideal. His service finds more than 11,000 offender days' work a year in the county.
"It has a really profound effect on them," he said.
"They are learning to behave in the right way, to respect each other and themselves."
An offender who wished only to be known as "Chris", is more than halfway through 180 hours of a community sentence for fraud.
"I thought community service would be picking litter or cleaning up graffiti that someone else has made but this is very different," he said. "Here, you can achieve something."
It will be such a lovely place to visit that Chris is planning to return, even after his sentence is up.
"Some of the kids don't look like they'll achieve anything in life," said Chris. "And I want to work with them, and give something back. I'd come back here."
The scheme was the joint winner of the Gloucestershire Criminal Justice Board's award for partnership of the year, but its contribution to addressing offending, and taking a weight off the monks' shoulders is priceless.
