Couple's home proves popular with scavengers

The garden of Glenda and Michael Biggs has proved popular with a local family of the night-time scavengers.

As soon as Mr and Mrs Biggs plant anything, the foxes have been digging it up.

A recently-bought noise deterrent seems to be working and shifted the foxes to the front garden and the grassed island in the middle of Sea Lane outside their home.

However, where Mr and Mrs Reynard and their cubs have trod, humans will be welcome to follow on June 21.

They will find a garden which is low maintenance but still with some eye-catching features.

A swan statue is surrounded by blue flowers to form a swan lake area. Old kitchen fixtures have been put to use. Flower pots adorn an old cooker hob, while a fairy and marigolds allude to washing up liquid and rubber gloves.

There are also grub tubs full of beans and tomatoes to be used in the new kitchen.

Mrs Biggs, 62, and her 67-year-old husband moved into the property seven years ago.

A few hours of work a week has transformed their garden from a dust bowl.

The couple willingly agreed to let visitors look around it for the first time.

"It's quite exciting and it's good to have a focus for our gardening and the thought of doing something special," said Mrs Biggs. "But it's also quite scary at the same time."

Pagham gardens will be open

A total of 14 gardens around Pagham will be open from 2pm-5pm on June 21. Tickets will be on sale, priced 4 each, from the Church Centre in Nyetimber Lane, Pagham, on the day. Under-14s will go free.

A minibus will transport those less able between the locations, thanks to Pagham and Nyetimber Residents' Association.

The gardens range in size up to a quarter of an acre. They contain a huge range of styles, from cottage garden to tropical planting. Some are mature and others newly created.

The event is being organised by the Friends of St Thomas a'Becket Church in aid of its SOS Save our Stained Glass appeal.

Richard Rundle, of the Friends, said: "Many people in our village, or who have connections to Pagham, have a great affection for our

historic church building even if they do not wish to contribute to the religious aspects of the church.

"The Friends is an organisation which has been charged by the Parochial Church Council with raising funds to maintain the fabric of the church."

The six pre-Raphaelite stained glass windows in the north and south transept are in memory of John Mathews and Carl Hartmann who died in the first world war.

The windows were designed by painter and sculptor Edward Fellowes-Prynne (1854-1921).

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