Blooming lovely - ex-Beatle's "Octopus's Garden" in Liverpool

Colin Hall - curator at Mendips with the house and garden

Work on restoring the garden at John Lennon's Liverpool childhood home its 1950s state is starting to show results.

University history experts have teamed-up with the National Trust to replant the garden at the house named "Mendips" in Allerton.

Students Christina Asher, Richard Taylor, Thomas Davies, Matthew Jones and Rebecca Lindley are working on the project led by Chester University history lecturer Dr Donna Jackson.

Dr Jackson, a Senior Lecturer in Modern History at Chester is volunteer at Mendips, which was bought by Yoko Ono and donated to the National Trust in 2002.

The NT operate Mendips as a tourist attraction along with Paul McCartney's childhood home at 20 Forthlin Road.

Mendips, a semi-detached house on Menlove Avenue, Allerton, was where Lennon moved to live with his Auntie Mimi when his mother Julia could no longer look after him.

Dr Jackson said: "It is a massive task that we have undertaken in terms of establishing just how the garden was planted in the 1950s, but the results will be worth it.

"As a Beatles' fan, it's a real privilege to help look after John's and but when I was asked to lead this garden project, I was thrilled.

"The problem is that there are no surviving adults who lived there or knew the garden at the time.

"We had photographs of 20 Forthlin Road, taken by Paul's brother Mike McCartney but there are no such visual aids for John's childhood home.

"John's cousin, Mike Parkes, used to play at Mendips and he has tried his best to remember the different plants and flowers that were there at the time.

"We have recenlty created a rustic trellis, planted with climbing roses, and a number of perenial pink geraniums and a goosberry bush, which Mike remembered.

"We also know that John's aunt Mimi used to exchange cuttings with neighbours so we are also drawing on resources of people in the road to help us."

The project team will draw-up a plan for the entire garden with the aim that the 1950s re-planting scheme should be completed by 2012.

National Trust Liverpool Property Manager, Simon Osborne, said: "This has been a very practical and useful project both for the students and for the Trust.

"It gives us valuable information that we would not otherwise have obtained. It moves forward our plans for restoring the garden to its original state."

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