A supermarket manager claims she has to crawl on her hands and knees to tend to her grandparents’ grave after a cemetery was allowed to grow out of control.

Tracey Kern’s grandparents Francis and Jean Barber, formerly of Atlas Road, Earls Colne, are both laid to rest in the graveyard opposite St Andrew’s Church in the village, but she is growing increasingly concerned about its condition.

Miss Kern, who lived in Conies Road, Halstead, before moving to Colchester, claims grass, trees and bushes are so overgrown that many graves are inaccessible.

Ian Sparks, vice chairman of Earls Colne Parish Council, which maintains the graveyard on behalf of St Andrew’s Church, insisted the council’s handyman was doing the best he could.

He said: “It’s still done on a regular basis but unfortunately when the weather is hot and wet like it has been it tends to grow a lot quicker.”

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