Torquay, Torre Abbey Gardens
Pana-vue Superdia slide GB2191 entitled Torquay, Torre Abbey Gardens. Slides like these were sold in sets of three during the 1960s. Originally in colour, this has totally faded over the years.
From The Guardian, 13 December 2023: "Palm trees that have welcomed visitors to the “English riviera” for a century have been cut down without warning in an act that residents have described as “pure vandalism”.
The felling of 40 trees in Torquay, Devon, has provoked a furious public outcry and accusations that the council has wrought a “soul-destroying”, “total destruction” of the seaside front.
The beloved palms that some local people say are synonymous with the seaside town – the hapless hotel manager Basil Fawlty even boasted about them in an episode of Fawlty Towers – have stood in the Italian Gardens, which look out over Torre Abbey Sands, since they were first planted in 1924.
But dozens of them have been chopped down to their stumps without consultation or notice by Torbay council as part of the restoration of the gardens ahead of its 100th anniversary next year.
The council has promised that the garden will be transformed over the winter and into the spring, with more planting scheduled. It said the palms had showed signs of significant degradation in the past 20 years and work was being carried out by its contractors to upgrade the site.
Public consultation in 2019 identified the Italian Gardens as a priority for restoration, but the scheme was delayed due to the pandemic"
Torquay, Torre Abbey Gardens
Pana-vue Superdia slide GB2191 entitled Torquay, Torre Abbey Gardens. Slides like these were sold in sets of three during the 1960s. Originally in colour, this has totally faded over the years.
From The Guardian, 13 December 2023: "Palm trees that have welcomed visitors to the “English riviera” for a century have been cut down without warning in an act that residents have described as “pure vandalism”.
The felling of 40 trees in Torquay, Devon, has provoked a furious public outcry and accusations that the council has wrought a “soul-destroying”, “total destruction” of the seaside front.
The beloved palms that some local people say are synonymous with the seaside town – the hapless hotel manager Basil Fawlty even boasted about them in an episode of Fawlty Towers – have stood in the Italian Gardens, which look out over Torre Abbey Sands, since they were first planted in 1924.
But dozens of them have been chopped down to their stumps without consultation or notice by Torbay council as part of the restoration of the gardens ahead of its 100th anniversary next year.
The council has promised that the garden will be transformed over the winter and into the spring, with more planting scheduled. It said the palms had showed signs of significant degradation in the past 20 years and work was being carried out by its contractors to upgrade the site.
Public consultation in 2019 identified the Italian Gardens as a priority for restoration, but the scheme was delayed due to the pandemic"