A green-fingered celebrity pitched in at the gardens at Beer’s Pecorama.
Author and broadcaster Anne Swithinbank helped out with planting some of the 300 new plants at the Secret Garden, a special area away from the crowds.
The patch has a long, herbaceous border and eight-foot obelisks, surrounded by scented roses and clematis.
Anne’s links to the site date back to 2000 when she officially opened the Millennium Celebration Garden.
The locomotive attraction also invited East Devon tourist information centres and holiday housing providers to the site last week.
They were shown around to better understand what Pecorama has to offer and see how it is changing to be more flexible.
Tourism manager Mark Ridger said the attraction is there to support the Peco factory, which makes model trains, with the hope it rekindles or inspires interest in the hobby. Currently being built is a new indoor play area – the culmination of efforts to make it an all-weather attraction and extend its open dates in the year.
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