A Dorset church has employed the use of sheep to tends its grounds, as it does not have the budget for a gardener.

Church warden Philip Bailey had the novel idea, based on the church’s history.

He told the Bournemouth Echo: “St Wolfrida is a rural church in a rural setting, therefore we should be as simple and as close to the natural world as the church is humble.”

The secretary for Wimbourne Minster, Ruth Marshall, was previously a shepherdess, and was able to source sheep from the weed-eating Ronaldsay breed.

A team of local residents – known as the ‘flockwatch’ keep an eye on the church, and its woolly gardeners.

Ruth says the sheep have brought “a real community spirit” to the Wimborne parish.

Warden Philip says the wild and unique grounds staff reflect the nature of the church community: “St Wolfrida’s is not a pristine clean town church, with pristine clean parishioners. We are whatever the seasons bring - sun, rain, mud and wind with animals.”