Council gardener respects ‘no-mow zone’ for park sunbather
ACOUNCIL gardener refused to disturb a sun lover catching rays in a Clevedon park – mowing around him rather than asking him to move.
The gardener was busy cutting the grass using a ride-on mower at Alexandra Park on Friday.
But rather than ask the man, who was lying flat on the grass in just a pair of shorts, to move he simply mowed around him.
After the gardener finished and the man eventually got up and left, he left behind an oval shaped patch of uncut grass.
The pictures were taken by Clevedon Pier and Heritage Trust chairman Phil Curme.
He said: “I saw the man lying in the sun and then noticed the man cutting the grass and wondered what was going to happen.
“It was a case of ‘who is going to blink first?’
“He carried on and just kept going round and round the sunbather and he didn’t move.
“There was no dialogue between the two and at no point did the gardener ask him to move.
“Even as he was getting closer and closer, the man just sat up,
❝ I saw the man lying in the sun and then noticed the man cutting the grass and wondered what was going to happen. It was a case of ‘who is going to blink first?’
looked around and lay back down again.
“When I checked later the sunbather had gone and there is an oval patch of grass where he was lying which still hasn’t been mowed.”
The park is owned and managed by North Somerset Council.
Last week marked the end of No Mow May.
The campaign led by conservation charity called for people to help bees, butterflies and other wildlife by letting wild flowers grow on lawns and green spaces throughout May instead of mowing them.
Phil Curme