A woman who single-handedly grew a garden for the community in Stroud has described her dismay and anger after a suspected theft.

“I’m so upset and cross that it’s happened,” said Anne Creed, who has had furniture go missing from her hidden but public garden at the top of town, nearby to the Golden Fleece pub.

“It’s just the sheer meanness of it. They took things that were basically scrap.”

Anne, who used to own a nearby newsagents on Middle Street with her husband before retiring in 2014, suspects thieves took the garden’s woodburner, two tables, and a chair on Thursday night.

“They must have had a van - that woodburner is not exactly light.”

The missing furniture follows a recent SNJ report on stones in Anne’s garden carved by Jim Pentney, a sculptor who is considering running for MP in Stroud (bit.ly/2Uafd2S) - though none of Jim’s stones were taken.

Anne had cultivated the garden herself.

“It used to be a building which was then pulled down. It was a tip," she said.

“And I kept going past it on my way to work and I just got fed up with the rubble - I guess it was guerilla gardening.

“This is just mean. People enjoy reading and having conversations in that garden.”