Whatever you think of Bath’s annual Christmas Market the one thing l always look forward to is the Abbey Hotel’s ‘Snow Globe’ installation – the location of one of the best festival selfies you can get in this city.
Well – as we head into summer – l think l have found a new location for turning the camera on yourself – or your friends. It’s an archway of flowers that’s been erected in Milsom Place Shopping Centre as a centrepiece for this weekend’s Milsom Place Festival of Flowers.
This historic central location is being dressed to impress under the guidance of Chelsea Flower Show gold medal veteran Jon Wheatley with plants on sale and even a hand-tied bouquet workshop.
I was introduced to the Centre Manager Alex McLaren by Allison Herbert who is General Manager of Bath BID.
For those who don’t know this is the Bath Business Improvement District – an independent, not for profit, business-led initiative that works to create the environment for businesses in Bath to succeed.
It’s also in the process of helping to ensure many of the city’s central shopping streets are properly decorated with flowers for our millions of visitors.
Local authority cuts mean that – although they can supply the flowers from their greenhouses, B&NES hasn’t the resources to ‘manage’ the displays.
I joined Allison and BID Ranger Alan Russell in Upper Borough Walls where they were keen to show off a whole railing full of blooms – before we headed for Milsom Street.
It’s Allan who has the job of managing the floral displays in the city centre and – twice a week – physically driving around to water them all.
We stopped outside Milsom Place so l could find out more about how the BID was helping to maintain Bath’s floral reputation. A city famous for its success in national competitions which judge floral displays.
Find out more about the Milsom Place Festival of Flowers via http://www.milsomplace.co.uk
Bath BID via www.bathbid.co.uk
Meanwhile, while l have been critical of the plastic box hedging that has appeared in the Saw Close – alongside the new Casino, hotel and restaurant development – it’s a shame to report that one of the displays has been vandalised.
Many people agree it’s a poor show for a new development – and one that has dangerous steps that have needed marking to make them safer – but l would rather see all the plastic removed by the developers than the contents of one scattered across this badly-thought-out space.
