Creativity blossomed for Pembrokeshire residents on a free visit to a Welsh historic garden where they took part in a national arts project.

The trip was organised by Welsh charity Prime Cymru's Rural Challenge Scheme which supports older people into volunteering and The Gateway Gardens Trust which enables access to the historic garden heritage of Wales.

Funding came from The Gwanwyn Festival, a Wales-wide event held this month which celebrates and encourages creativity in older age.

The 19 visitors were members of a Communities First project in the village of Monkton, which is part of an Assembly Government programme to improve the lives of people in Welsh neighbourhoods.

Inspired by the beauty the surroundings at Aberglasney Gardens in Llangathen, the visitors took part in Prime Cymru's Scratch and Sniff Project to create digital stories as part of the festival.

Prime Cymru's Rural Challenge co-ordinator Alison Coleman, who helped the visitors create their stories, said: "They recorded narratives about scented plants into a dictaphone and then made a picture from the plants using a scanner. The finished pictures and words were posted on the flickr.com photo-sharing website for the world to see."

During the trip on Monday, the visitors were given a VIP tour by Aberglasney Gardens director, Graham Rankin and cuttings were carefully taken from suitable plants to help them create their stories.

By volunteering to take part in Gwanwyn Festival, which takes its name from the Welsh word for spring, the visitors were following in the footsteps of the 18 century poet John Dyer who was born at Aberglasney and wrote about it in his famous verse 'The Country Walk'.

Digital story contributor 65-year-old Dorothy Lloyd from Monkton, a retired carer who joined the visit with husband David (73), a retired mechanic, said: "It's a great idea because the stories are from ordinary people. The gardens really made me feel creative as I had a picture in my mind to draw inspiration from. It was wonderful opportunity for us all."