Photo by Garry Knight under CC BY 2.0 – taken in 2013, one year after the VBG was taken over by John Curtis
Following last week’s criticism of the state of Ventnor Botanic Garden in the local news, it has hit the national news this week with articles in The Times, the Daily Mail and even on Monday’s BBC Radio4 prime time 6pm national news broadcast.
News OnTheWight published the former Curator of VBG, Simon Goodenough’s letter in full last Thursday. In it, he lamented the ‘mismanagement’ of the Garden by American businessman, John Curtis, who entered into a 125-year-old lease with the Isle of Wight council in 2012.
Goodenough: I was totally horrified
Simon Goodenough told BBC R4 he was absolutely mortified,
“Many of the collections that we built were based on artificial eco systems demonstrating Mediterranean climates and climate change, completely gone.
“The maintenance was non-existent and basically I was totally horrified.”
Curtis: The ‘Ventnor method’
John Curtis responded by saying they had been using the ‘Ventnor method’, which Goodenough slammed as “a smoke screen for a total lack of care and maintenance and is completely at odds with the naturalistic plantings” he was responsible for.
Curtis added,
“That allows us to present plants in association with each other as they would be in the wild. In fact it frames what could be a nationwide debate on what we ought to be doing in gardens in the face of climate change.”
Damning Trip Advisor reviews
The BBCR4 presenter went on to highlight recent TripAdvisor reviews of the Garden which include comments such as this from Brian B from Southampton,
“Eye watering entry price to view a place obviously run down and in need of expert attention. If I want to view weeds I can do so for free in my back garden.”
Or this from Tim S,
“A once thriving, vibrant and obviously cared for garden is now a shambolic mess. Dead and dying plants everywhere, tired over run beds and borders, complete lack of labels, disgusting facilities, the toilets were especially horrible.”
Julie DS said,
“The garden is clearly in urgent need of money and staff, it was run down, and poorly maintained. Nothing had been dead headed, and most of the garden looked like it needed a good tidy up. Which was disappointing.”
You can see the rest of the reviews, which do include some recent good reviews, on the Trip Advisor Website.
Find out more
You can hear the segment on BBC Sounds Player (20 mins in).
Read Simon Goodenough’s letter in full.
Listen to John Curtis’s first media interview with News OnTheWight’s way back in 2012.
You can also dip back through News OnTheWight’s Ventnor Botanic Garden archives.
