I know a churchyard wilderness Where wild flowers grow, There daisies, cowslips, campions And fragile harebells blow. And underneath damp tombstones, Fat toads with bulging eyes, Watch chirpy little grasshoppers And hovering dragonflies.   On lush green stinging nettle leaves Large caterpillars crawl, And tiny wrens are nesting In a crevice in the wall. Sweet nettles, pink and white, provide Rich nectar for the bees, And scarlet coated ladybirds Hunt aphids in the trees.

Like living jewels the goldfinches Bright dandelions devour, And woolly sheep graze lazily Upon the clover flower. Shy blooms and birds and insects And butterflies are rife: Oh there amid the sleeping dead, There is abundant Life!

With nature under so much pressure, we must maintain havens for wildlife wherever we can. The Living Churchyards project advises parishes on conserving nature in "God's Acre". Photo: Richard Shimell

At St Uny Lelant, from which all of these photographs are taken, there is a policy to keep part of the churchyard neatly mown and to allow the grass and wild flowers to grow freely in the oldest area of the extended graveyard across the lane. These two management strategies result in quite different landscapes.

Photos: Carol Simpson (right)

Richard Shimell (below)

I know another churchyard Which fills me with despair.
No dandelions, no poppiesNo wild roses there,
No bluebells and no buttercups,
No scarlet pimpernel;

For all God's lovely little gems,

The mower sounds the knell.

The undergrowth is sheared so close

It bears no flowers or seeds,

For the wild plants which dare to grow

Are designated weeds.

And all around the old stone church

In sanctimonious row,

Smug cultivated garden flowers

In sterile neatness grow.

This poem was sent to Carol Simpson by Tessa Styles, who is working hard to promote nature conservation in Crowan churchyard. If you would like to get involved in churchyard work, or need some advice on it, please contact the Trust.