Car Parking Charges Unpopular with Locals in Hampshire and Cornwall
In April, we reported the mixed response to the introduction of parking charges at various New Forest Car Parks.
Someone has taken such strong exception to this that they have visited different locations and sawn them off at their stumps.
Signs at Pipers Wait, Nomansland and Stoney Cross Plain, near Fritham were sawn through and left lying on the ground.
Local responses were, inevitably, binary ranging from ‘”Give that person a medal”’ to ‘”All it does is put up costs, which will be passed on to everyone”’.
The latter response is sadly accurate as a spokesman for Forestry England commented ‘”Money paid by everyone who pays to park (and our members) will have to be used to repair damage”’.
Caerhays Estate, Cornwall
The New Forest is not the only area to be hit with new parking charges. Visitors to property on the Caerhays Estate, at Gorran near St Austell in Cornwall, will find new meters in tiny villages like Portholland, and at Porthluney Cove car park, along with the official café and car park for Caerhays Castle itself.
A magnificent 19th Century castle, designed by John Nash for the Trevanion family, fairytale Caerhays sits in a curve of the hill above a lake, the stream from which meanders down to Porthluney Cove. The extensive gardens are particularly spectacular in spring with their rhododendrons, camellias and award-winning collection of over 600 species of magnolia.
Caerhays, now owned by the Williams family (which also owns Burncoose Nurseries, regulars at Chelsea Flower Show) may be familiar from a number of films and television series. ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ used Porthluney Cove and various other parts of the estate including the valley leading to the tiny port of Portholland as locations. The BBC’s adaptation of ‘Poldark’ also used Caerhays as a location in later series, while the 1979 adaptation of ‘Rebecca’ used external shots of the castle.
Locals understand the need for parking cash to cover the astronomical costs of maintenance (and death duties), but regret the passing of the old world free access to their landscape. At least no one has sabotaged the signage.