A HEADTEACHER is counting the cost of a rash pledge after offering his services as a window cleaner.

Wolsingham Primary School head Sam Underwood has volunteered for a window cleaning marathon at one of the biggest houses in the village to raise money for a new school garden.

The school's parent teacher association has collected £38,000 in grants and donations to create an adventure garden on a bleak tarmac yard.

Works started last week to turn ideas suggested by the pupils into reality. The playground will include features like a stage, shop, seating, open air classrooms, wildlife and planting areas, play equipment, a willow tunnel and poetry path.

Parents raised £1,589.69 on Friday at an auction of promises where Mr Underwood's services were snapped up for £28 by Kate Fenwick, who has lost count of the number of windows at her Foresters Lodge home.

Mr Underwood said: "I am told it will take at least four hours to clean the windows but I don't mind.

"The parents and the children themselves have put a lot of effort into raising the money and the success they have had is an indication of how much the school is thought of in the local community.

"For the children it is a wonderful chance to do all sorts of interesting things at playtimes.

"And it will provide lots of educational opportunities throughout the year in subjects such as science and maths."

The garden has been designed by landscape gardener Guy Rawlinson and his wife Fiona, parents of Sam, aged three, and six-year-old Joe.

Mrs Rawlinson collected funding from a range of organisations including the Sir James Knott Trust and the 1989 Willan Charitable Trust, who each gave £3,000.