Northamptonshire village community rallies around 94-year-old who paid £400 for garden work left 'incomplete'

Neighbours are planning to redo the garden and clear up the mess this weekend
A pensioner paid £400 for her garden to be tidied up but it was left in a 'mess' according to friends.A pensioner paid £400 for her garden to be tidied up but it was left in a 'mess' according to friends.
A pensioner paid £400 for her garden to be tidied up but it was left in a 'mess' according to friends.

Residents in a Northamptonshire village have rallied around an elderly neighbour who paid £400 in cash to gardeners who 'did not complete' the job they were employed to do.

The 94-year-old, who lives in an independent living facility in Roade, paid for her garden to be ‘tidied up’ after a pamphlet offering gardening services was posted through her letterbox.

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For £400, two males spent 'no more than two hours' attending to her garden, but friends of the resident say the garden is not tidier and the bushes were ‘just hacked at’.

Since the incident, neighbours have called the company in question on behalf of the resident, but after speaking to someone on the first occasion who said he would ‘call back’, nobody has heard from them nor has anyone been able to get through when calling.

Neighbour and friend, Ann Berry, said: “They quoted her £400 for the job, which she paid in cash.

“A man and a boy turned up, hacked at three bushes and then just disappeared.

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“They left it in a mess and did two hours of work, at the most.

“We’ve tried contacting them since, but nobody can get through.

“Since Covid when there were six of us in a bubble, we all like to protect each other so we were devastated when we realised what had happened.”

Following the incident, Ann posted about it on a village Facebook page, which quickly gained traction with a lot of people offering to help.

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Ann added: “Everyone is concerned about this person who they didn’t even know because when I posted it on Facebook I didn’t name her.

“We’ve got so many people offering to help to redo her garden, it’s quite overwhelming.”

As the garden is quite small and will not fit many people, a coffee morning has also been organised for Saturday morning (October 9) for those who want to help, but will not be working on the garden.

Since Ann announced the coffee morning, she has had a lot of people offering to make cakes, as well.

“It will be a lovely opportunity for the older community here to meet some of the younger community,” Ann continued.

“It also just shows what a great community we have here.”