The team at the Walled Garden in Mells have been visited by the Minister for Civil Society to talk about their work tackling loneliness.

Sam Evans from the garden greeted Baroness Barren today (May 7) before taking her on a tour of the gardens and answering questions on the Seeds of Connection program.

The Baroness also met Zac Gratton who runs the Froglife programme in Frome, a project which reaches out to people suffering from dementia locally and connecting them with nature.

Also at the garden to greet the minister, along with many of the volunteers, students from Critchill School who are getting practical work experience at the site.

The Seeds program was funded by the The Local Connections Fund, a new £4 million fund to help charities and community groups in England that are working to reduce loneliness by helping them build connections across their communities.

The Baroness was first appointed as minister for civil society in July 2019. Previously she founded and ran the domestic abuse charity SafeLives for 13 years until 2017, worked at the charity sector think tank New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) and was a trustee for Comic Relief.

She was made a life peer in June 2018 and is unpaid.

The visit, and the tour of the stunning gardens in Mells, will be featured on BBC local news over the weekend.