Volunteers who set up a group to breathe new life into a local beauty spot have revealed they are 'devastated' after it was targeted by vandals.

Garden furniture, including tables and chairs, was smashed during the wrecking spree at North Lodge Park in Cromer last night (Saturday).

The Friends of North Lodge Park, which had begun to revive the park's fortunes with the re-opening of its cafe following its formation in March last year, posted pictures of the damage on its page on social-networking site Facebook.

A statement read: 'Devastated to discover that during the night vandals have destroyed the beautiful furniture which had been donated to the Park and which had made the Rose Garden an even more beautiful place to sit...all the chairs and the table broken beyond repair.

'The wonderful board which Matt made for the cafe is also broken and in pieces. Who would do something like this?'

The Friends of North Lodge Park is currently consulting the public on its ambitious proposals for the park which is owned by North Norfolk District Council and had become neglected.

Suggestions included: moving the boating lake to an area between North Lodge and the pre-school and replacing it with a park plaza, with events and children's splash areas, and fountains; creating a 'top quality' young children's play area on the old bowling green; building a multi-use games area (MUGA) on the concrete space to the right of the Overstrand Road entrance; and installing a trail of work by local sculptors in the rose garden.

Commenting on the post on Facebook, Graeme Andrew Stickings said: 'Maybe those dark forces who would turn the park into a car park and have decided that those who would make it into an area to sit and ponder must have their efforts sabotaged.'

The vandalism followed an attack on the town's skatepark earlier this month.

Another poster, Hubba Hubba-hubba, added: 'This is why Cromer needs CCTV cameras back, so the people that do this sort of thing can be brought to court and made to pay for the damage they do, I can see this sort of thing happening more and more often in Cromer.'