Okehampton Town Councillor Jan Goffey has thanked the park keeper for all his work caring for the new China Girl tree, also known as Chinese dogwood, at Fairplace during the hot weather.

James McGahey, Okehampton’s park keeper, rose to the occasion when the tree became very stressed due to last month’s extreme heat which affected the whole of the UK.

Cllr Goffey said: ‘The council wanted an unusual tree for the sensory garden but when it arrived, it arrived in very hot weather and it was very stressed. James spent a lot of time watering it and helping it settle in.’

Okehampton’s sensory garden at Fairplace was completed last year to provide residents with an attractive place to relax.

The decision to undertake the transformation of the area around the public toilets came as the council started to put in place some schemes to encourage tourists to Okehampton in preparation for the re-opening of the railway.