If you're looking for something a bit different to do this Halloween, you could do worse than take a visit to Te Henui Cemetery in New Plymouth.
Volunteers put in all their effort to transform New Plymouth's oldest cemetery. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Once drab and overgrown, the cemetery has been transformed into a riot of spring colour by a group of publicity-shy volunteers.
Established in 1861, Te Henui is the city's oldest cemetery and the final resting place of Frederic Carrington - also known as the "father of New Plymouth" - and women's rights advocate and arts patron Monica Brewster.
It's also one of the city's hidden gems.
It has a five-star rating on TripAdvisor and is currently featuring in the Taranaki Garden Festival for the first time.
That is largely due to volunteer gardeners who have flittered in among the headstones for almost a decade now.
Susan was the first to get involved.
"I discovered the graveyard by accident and saw it needed some TLC [Tender Loving Care] so I started in the back corners weeding, planting a few flowers and things. The council was happy about that. They realised I was there and it's grown like topsy and there are now four other volunteers."
The gardening drew Susan in, but she later discovered her great-grandparents were actually buried in Te Henui.
She said the cemetery always had lots of potential and the volunteers had not been shy with their input.
"[We've planted] masses and masses of bulbs, you know, spring bulbs, summer bulbs, lilies, dahlias, kaners all sorts of flowering things," Susan said.
"It adds to the cheerfulness of the place. It's not a grim place.
"It enhances the trees. The cherries are flowering at the moment, the magnolias have just been and the grab apples. There's maples all sorts. It's a lovely setting."
Beautiful flowers are in bloom at Te Henui Cemetery thanks to the efforts of volunteers who turned the place around from being drab and overgrown. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
For dog-walker Mary, the interest was more elemental.
"I enjoy having my hands in the soil. There's birdsong. You have tūīs and wood pigeons in the trees above you, fantails flit around beside you, the blackbird comes and looks for worms and it's just a lovely place to be."
Nick was off work and looking for something meaningful to do when he joined the gardening spectres.
"I'm one of the spooks, yeah, that's right. I think I'm correctly titled the Ghost, is that right Susan? Yeah, one of the volunteers."
He could see the funny side of working in a graveyard.
"It was the last place I thought I'd ever end up apart from going out in a box, but you know it just feels right being here."
Taranaki Garden Festival manager Tetsu Garnett said the cemetery, which was also maintained by the New Plymouth District Council, was well known to locals and in the festival on merit.
"Well it is a bit quirky having a cemetery, yeah for sure, but it is really a place of relaxation and a sanctuary.
"Coincidentally it is Halloween coming up, but you know this is a beautiful place that we want to share and it's not spooky at all."
Te Henui Cemetery - which still holds about 35 burials annually in family plots - is open to the public all year round and entry is free.
The Taranaki Garden Festival runs until 4 November.
The volunteers' efforts are noticable across Te Henui Cemetery where flowers are in bloom, creating a beautiful landscape Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
