The untouched corner of a graveyard that's been converted into a veg patch

• Watch Georgia Scott's report.

People in one Cornish village have found an unconventional use for a corner of their graveyard - by growing vegetables in it.

Volunteers at St Michael's Church are converting the unused area into a vegetable patch to help supply a food bank project.

All the fresh vegetables, fruit and salad they grow will be used in food parcels for people in need, with anything left being shared amongst the community.

The veg patch was the idea of volunteer Simon Norris.

He told ITV News West Country: "I think that we need to consciously see that we're helping people. I don't think a lot of people do understand the cost of living, a lot of the families here are on low incomes and I think the kids need fresh veg.

"We're respectful for the graves, I've got a lot of friends buried up here and they were either keen gardeners or they were farmers and I think they would love this idea."

The Priest in Charge at St Michael's Church, Richard Magrath, says the corner being used was always a grassed area.

He said: "Where we're planting vegetables there has not been any burials. This is a recent addition to the churchyard, and one of the conditions of the plot was essentially it's a temporary structure. If we need it for burials we can use it for that again.

"People think of a churchyard as perhaps a sad place, a place of death, somewhere slightly morbid, but we're saying no actually it's going to be a place of life and a place of work."

The church has its own informal food bank and community lunch. Caroline Norris is one of the volunteers who runs the service.

She said: "The veg that we take out will go to the food parcels that we do as a church, and we run a community lunch that I do the cooking for, so we will produce vegetables that will serve that as well.

"On a Sunday after service, there will be a notice that will go up to say that if anybody would like some veg to bring a bag or a box and we'll fill it."

The team say they now hope to inspire other churches and community groups to do the same. The first harvest should be ready by the end of June.