Tulip tree for peace garden at Les Cotils

An eight-metre tulip tree was lifted into a corner of the garden where a platform will be built around it to add a treehouse-style element to the garden.

It will become the centrepiece of the entrance to the garden and is the first plant introduced there.

The idea of the garden is to create a space for the whole community to come and use if they need a quiet area or a place to sit and reflect.

Chairman of the trustees of Les Cotils Andy Hall explained that the idea is being made a reality thanks to a generous donation from the Swallow 2018 Charitable Trust, a legacy of the late Pat Merriman, after whom the garden will be named.

‘We hope that people from all over the island will come and make use of this space,’ he said.

‘With [architect] Andrew Dyke’s designs, it will be suitable for those undergoing a healing process from physical or mental ill health, or those with, say, autism or dementia.’

A pond will be installed towards the bottom of the garden, there will be paths to wander along, benches to rest on and wild flowers and shrubs too.

‘We’re also having an adult slide from the treehouse area to the lower part of the garden to add a bit of fun in our serious lives,’ Mr Hall said.

Much of the work and planting still needs to be done to complete the garden because it was delayed by the second lockdown.

Pat Merriman was the first ever female partner of a consulting firm of actuaries in the UK and moved to Guernsey in 1979 to set up Bacon and Woodrow (now BWCI).

She loved nature and kept a wonderful garden herself, so the trustees of Les Cotils are certain she would have loved the idea of a peace garden.