No garden is complete without a statue of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment, to watch over the natural cycle of flora and fauna. St Francis was born in medieval Italy and renounced his father’s wealth in order to live a humble religious life. He was revered for his great humility towards the living world and is often pictured with a small bird in hand, a reference to an incident where he and his companions came upon a place where birds filled the trees. St Francis preached to the birds who surrounded him, drawn by the power of his voice, not one of them flew away.

Shown in Ancient Stone.