an environmental garden is blossoming where a rickety classroom once stood.

Children at Dodmire Infant School, in Darlington, rolled up their sleeves and formed a garden gang to create the display.

The old tin hut was built at the school in 1919 as a temporary classroom, but it lasted until 1999. Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Moor and Lord Sawyer of Darlington were taught at the school as five-year-olds in 1948 and made a sentimental return to the hut before it was demolished.

It was decided to create an environmental garden in place of the hut for the enjoyment of children and their families, and for neighbours across the road who had been used to looking out at the eyesore.

The garden gang, established last year to teach children about protecting the environment, soon got down to work. Pupils planted herbs, vegetables and flowers, created two areas as habitats for birds and another for resident frogs. A rare black poplar tree was planted as a sapling, part of a Darlington Borough Council scheme to revive the species. It will eventually be planted in its natural habitat near the River Skerne.

Dodmire headteacher Maureen Dixon said: "When I came back after the summer holidays the garden had just blossomed and it is gorgeous. The garden gang thought it was wonderful because they planted the seeds before the holidays."