STUDENTS will be able to get their hands dirty and learn vital skills after the town council granted them access to an allotment.

The gardening project has been developed through a partnership which includes West Somerset Community College supplying hanging baskets and maintaining roundabouts for the council.

The young horticulturists will prepare the allotment under the watchful eye of tutor Derek Brown in the run-up to Christmas, before growing vegetables to be used in The Combe restaurant and donated to St Michael’s Church in Alcombe for food parcels.

College principal Gaynor Comber said: “Our learners will have extended opportunities to learn how to use hand tools properly, learn how to grow their own vegetables (a skill that many young people no longer have the opportunity to do), develop team and partnership working skills and explore the potential of horticulture as a career option.

“I am really pleased external partner agencies are working alongside our students to help them develop these key life skills.”