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Visitors
to Gloucester's Horton Road cemetery in the next few weeks may be
surprised to see an unusual maintenance team at work.
The
management team have swapped mowers for grazers and introduced a
team of four sheep to keep the area trimmed.
The
cemetery is a peaceful green space in the middle of the busy city,
between Kingholm and Barton Street.
"It's
a delightful little spot," said Derek Brown, Countryside Unit
Manager for Gloucester City Council, "and it seems so appropriate
having it managed by quiet, gentle sheep...rather than machines
and noisy petrol-driven things."
Greedy
The
woolly greenskeepers, which are all rare breed specimens, have been
unimpressed by the human traffic passing through their new home.
"If
they've had an awful lot to eat - and it looks, by the size of them,
like they've been tucking into this quite nicely - then they're
not really terribly interested in us at all," said Derek.
The
sheep have been at the cemetery for about a month, and will remain
there for another 4-5 weeks, until the wild flowers begin to emerge.
Derek
has been charged with finding pastures new for the transient mini-flock.
"We've
got nothing lined up at the moment," he said.
"If anybody's got a plot of waste ground they'd like tidied
up and they'd like to look after them for a few weeks, get them
touch with us at the Countryside Unit at Robinswood Hill and we'll
go and have a look."
No
grass please - we're sheep
Despite
popular preconceptions, the sheep could be as happy in a weed-ridden
patch of scrub as a verdant field.
"They
actually do not like grass," said Derek, "they'll eat
grass if there's all there is but they'd be pretty miffed."
He
added that anyone interested in hosting the foursome would need
sheep-proof fencing and a water supply.
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A
Gloucester cemetery has recruited a team of four-legged maintenance
specialists (aka sheep) to maintain its grass. 
