Readers may remember that back in mid-January we reported on the destruction of one half of Tennyson’s Lane in Freshwater.
As we’d mentioned, we were due to meet with the owners of the Farringford and some readers have asked us for an update.
Background
The owners of the Farringford Hotel applied to the Isle of Wight Council to have the trees and shrubs removed along the length of the bank. As it turned out, it didn’t actually belong to the hotel.
As you’ll have seen from the photos from the original story, all that was left was a near-bare bank, causing distress to some of the local residents.
You might remember that after publishing the article we emailed the hotel asking for a statement on the situation.
We heard nothing back until a couple of days later, when we got a call from Leigh who, acting for the Farringford, told us that hotel owners, Rebecca and Martin were ‘devastated’ at the article and wanted to meet with us asap to give their side of the story.
This suited us, as it was what we’d asked for in our original email, so we put aside our plans for the following weekend, making time to fit them in.
Change of Heart?
That following week, having not heard back from Leigh about the exact time we were meeting up, we got in touch with her on the Friday and were surprised to hear that Rebecca and Martin wouldn’t be able to see us after all and didn’t know when they’d next be available.
Despite their initially reported urgency to put their side of the story across, we’ve heard absolutely nothing from them since – and three months have now gone by.
What we have learnt however in the intervening time, is that Martin contacted the local farmer, a friend, acknowledging his mistake, apologising for not having her involved in the consultation phase and for his “less than gracious” attitude to her when she went to see him following the work.
We’ll let you know if we hear any more on the matter as we understand that there is still a public interest in what happens to Tennyson’s Lane, especially in this bicentenary year of his birth.
