Our choice of open garden this month is very different from the usual domestic oasis of greenery. Will Ramsey visits a sensory garden which was once a sewage treatment works . . .

An overview of Winthrop Park, a colourful oasis that has risen from the toxic remnants of a sewage works

Six years ago, the now blossoming garden at the far end of Second Lane – a quiet cul-de-sac on the edge of Rotherham – was an environmental “dead zone”.

Once a sewage treatment works, the soil at this derelict site was contaminated with toxic chemicals and littered with 18 tonnes of scrap metal.

But that was all before David Bowser, a former environmental consultant, decided to remake this particular corner of South Yorkshire.

Together with his wife, Carol, David embarked on a two-year project to create a sensory garden – partly in response to the health problems he himself had suffered.

“I had a stroke 10 years ago and found gardening to be incredibly helpful to my recovery,” David said.

“All that was offered to me was tablets – but I needed more than that.”

Inspired by his own experiences of the therapeutic qualities of gardening – and his research on the health-giving properties of certain plants – he and Carol decided to create a community garden.

Having set up a charity – Second Nature Life Support – which has so far raised £187,000, they began work on the site.

Today, four years after work was completed, Winthrop Park is a blaze of bright colours and filled with some 20,000 plants and shrubs that give off scent or are tactile to the touch.

All the plants and trees selected for the site have a medical or environmental benefit – such as willows, which have drawn the toxins out from the soil and neutralised the ground.

“People think that since it was a sewage treatment works then it must be a good fertiliser for the soil – but this is where the tanks were washed out with chemicals,” said David.

“We had to find plants that were tolerant of the soil conditions.”

Advised by Wendy Thompson, a lecturer in landscaping at the University Of Leeds, many of the plants have a link to ancient remedies.

As we walk about the grounds, David points out poppies, from which stimulants were made for the ill during medieval days, and foxgloves – the leaves of which were once used as compresses for wounds.

There are trees, including yew, an extract of which is used in drugs to treat cancer, and eucalyptus, used in the treatment of chest colds.

In separate flower beds are a cluster of tactile plants, such as the soft, downy leaves of Lambs’ Ears.

Other varieties have been selected for their smell, such as the Curry Plant – which lives up to its name when the leaves are crushed between the fingers – and lavender.

For those with sight problems, there is a “rainbow” effect of planting, including the bright blue campanula and pink delphiniums.

“It looks like a bank of colour,” David said.

Planting has been carefully designed to meet the needs of the disabled

Divided into themed sections, including a Japanese garden – dotted with slate from a Lake District quarry – the garden also features artworks, including glass sculptures placed amid the flowerbeds.

To keep in with the environmental concerns of the site, there are a number of recycled features in the garden including the iron gates from a London hotel that are now exhibited as a sculpture and a wisteria- covered pergola created from telephone poles.

But alongside these set-pieces, one of the most notable things about the site is the sense of peace.

“We saw that some parks and gardens were not accessible for disabled people – or that they felt threatened by activity that was going on,” said David.

“With Winthrop, it is a secluded, quiet place where people can walk around at their own pace.”

To help with this, there is a group of 59 volunteers who help look after the site, or act as “greeters” to show visitors around.

The work of volunteers has been essential for the creation of the garden as it stands.

It was their help that removed the 2,500 self-set sapling trees, which had to removed by hand to make pathways and borders.

And with the support of local companies, who also volunteered their time, 92 tonnes of landscaping materials and soil were brought in, along with 145 tonnes of Tarmac, block pavers, and concrete for disabled access pathways.

There was also the matter of 9,000 spring bulbs which were set and 325sqm of lawn laid.

To enjoy the finished site, visitors regularly arrive from across Yorkshire – from those who are in respite care or hospices to school parties and Girl Guides and Cubs.

“We anticipated 150 to 300 people arriving annually,” said David.

“Last year, we had 6,500 visitors.”

Now, the park’s reputation is spreading nationally.

Winthrop Park has been approved for the National Gardens Scheme, and is now published in its Yellow Book for 2009.

Further recognition came this year with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, with Winthrop Park selected as one of just 95 volunteering groups from across the UK to be recognised for its community work.

The therapeutic qualities of gardening – and the knowledge of health-giving properties of certain plants – helped inspire the creation of the community garden

The ripples have also spread into the immediate area with Second Lane – once despoiled by fly-tipping and a haunt for drug addicts – now tidy.

“People cannot believe it when they hear the garden’s only four years old,” said David.

“And it is amazing how nature takes hold.

“When we first got here, the area looked green but it was barren.

“There wasn’t much vegetation, apart from brambles and sapling trees.

“And because the ground was toxic, there were no insects, so there were no birds.

“Now the insects have come back and we see barn owls, sparrow hawks and kestrels.

“That was something we never expected.”

While these have been exciting by-products, the Bowsers’ focus remains the charity.

To help raise funds for Second Nature Life Support – which is also helping research into the health-giving properties of plants – cuttings are cultivated and sold on the site.

And the effects on the visitors of this abundant vegetation has been surprising.

David recalls one man, a stroke victim who had not spoken for four years, asking a question after walking around the site.

“People could not imagine what it was like, putting together something like this,” said Carol.

“But if you’ve got the right attitude it can be done – and David had the vision to see it through.

“You’ll always have the cynics, people who said ‘what’s in it for you?’

“But if you could see the face of someone who has not spoken for years because of a stroke suddenly light up because of what they’ve seen, then we have done our job.”

Winthrop Park is open every day, apart from Saturdays, from 11am-3pm and on Sundays, 10.30am to 4pm (subject to weather) until Saturday, 31st October. Call (01709) 709335 to check Bank Holiday openings.

A special day has been set aside on Saturday, 1st August, to help raise money for the cancer charities supported by the National Gardens Scheme. Admission on this day will be £2, with opening from 10am-5pm.