Youngsters are seeking inspiration from the abundant wildlife and history at Linthorpe Cemetery to use in their designs for Victorian-style ironwork seats.

The pupils, from Middlesbrough's Sacred Heart and Archibald primary schools, are working with local artist Steve Tomlinson to draw up the natural designs for the seven seats.

Over the past week, the children have been visiting the cemetery to get a feel for its history before transferring their ideas to paper or models.

The youngsters have also been looking at what types of fauna and flora can be found at the cemetery.

Project organiser Judith Hopper, of Groundwork South Tees, said: "The whole thing has gone really well.

"The children produced loads of work for Steve Tomlinson to work with. We actually took them to the cemetery and told them about its heritage and the wildlife that can be found there.

"The children really enjoyed it and came back full of ideas."

The cemetery is undergoing a transformation after it was declared a local nature reserve last year.

The site has many features, including medieval field markings and village boundaries, and reminders of smallpox epidemics - while the graves include the last resting place of a Mohican Indian.

The area is also home to tawny owls, foxes, pipistrelle bats, woodpeckers, hedgehogs, bullfinches, sparrowhawks and squirrels.

Other work to enhance the reserve included the creation of a log sculpture in the shape of woodland animals last year.

Mr Tomlinson will take the youngsters' designs and transform them into the ironwork seats, in keeping with the Victorian history of the cemetery.

And once the seats are completed, they will be placed in the cemetery, using an archive seating plan from 1890 for guidance.