Potentially World-Class Gardens Now Second Class ; Your Views

Summary

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ROYAL Terrace Gardens -- jewel in the crown or tiara with a few stones missing? Well, the long wait is over. The hoardings are down, the traffic is more or less flowing and the Royal Terrace Gardens are once again open for business. But what are we left with? To start with, the Grand Opening was a total disappointment. True, the choir sounded rather good, but unfortunately you couldn't hear them without microphones. The light show was very disappointing. There were a lot of people getting very wet having waited approximately one-and-a-half hours in pouring rain to see what amounted to little more than a few lights chasing up and down the cliffs and a poor girl in a yellow mac running up and down the stairs gesticulating. It was a good job that earlier there had been a little music from Torbay Brass Band to liven up proceedings.

Over the years, The Royal Terrace Gardens have been a shining jewel in the crown of the Queen of the English Riviera. Today, sadly, that crown is more like a tiara with a few stones missing. Where are the trees and the multi-coloured uplighting that once made the gardens such a huge draw for our visitors and locals alike? I know that the planting is at an early stage and the choice of plants look interesting, but surely we could have had some more mature planting to start with - shrubs and trees - to give the gardens the seclusion they previously enjoyed. More plants need to be put in further up the cliffs, with more lighting, too, since the middle section looks completely dark apart from the garish staircase. Subtle hardly comes into it here - tacky is more to the point. The staircase is far too bright as it stands. Every few steps illuminated would have been much more tasteful - very much a case of 'less being more'.

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Potentially World-Class Gardens Now Second Class ; Your Views

The roadside planting is similar to the original gardens when first plant...

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