The High Street in Weston runs along the oldest part of the town, from the Royal Hotel which was built in about 1812, towards what is now the Beach lawns. There was a little row of cottages, and a stream, and sometimes you can smell that dank smell which comes from culverted water. Weston soon grew to a proper seaside resort with the new fashion for sea bathing in the early nineteenth century, and then the arrival of the railway in 1841 which brought even more visitors and day-trippers.
In 1882 a Winter and Summer garden was opened, a year after the first plans were made for it. I don’t know where the Summer garden has gone but the Winter garden is now function rooms and facilities for musical and other events. Between the building of the Winter Garden, and the High Street, are the italian gardens, an open area with seating, and beds for flowers, shrubs and ornamental plants, the layout of which seems to change from year to year.
A low wall separates the garden area from some lawns and the high street, and along the top of it is a series of statues, some very badly damaged, no doubt by vandals thinking it was fun to render poor Vanity armless and prevent the woman gathering the harvest from doing so by taking away her hand.
Childhood
Harvest
Humility
Lois Elsden 