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Fowey bus stop gets new plant-themed makeover

BBC Sarah Worne in a khaki coloured jacket holds a paint dish and smiles at the camera. There is a sign behind her in a window saying wet paint. Another Helen Nicholls woman in a blue checked jacket and leopard print hat stands to her right also holding a tub of paint.BBC
Helen Nicholls (right) and Sarah Worne (left), the artist behind the latest horticultural-themed design

A bus stop in Fowey has been transformed in the latest of a series of paint jobs that go back more than 20 years.

The Fowey Pretty Bus Stop on Lankelly Lane was given its first bespoke makeover by Jane Tinsley after it became a target for anti-social behaviour.

Since then, the location has been decorated to look like a library, a tea room, a yacht race, and last year even marked the 200th anniversary of the RNLI.

Sarah Worne, the artist behind the latest horticultural-themed design, said she took on the task to "make people smile".

The inside of a stone bus stop which has been painted. There bottom half of the bus stop has been painted dark red to look like bricks. The top half has several painted plant pots in front of a blue sky background that looks like it's inside a greenhouse. There are four metal chairs inside the bus stop with cushions on. There is also a small book shelf with a flower pot on the top level, and a green plant pot full of tulips on the floor beside it.
The finished work, called Thyme to Stop, features real and painted plant pots

She said: "I've done them since 2021, sometimes it's a couple of times a year changeover, sometimes it's not, that's the joy of bus stop painting."

The finished work, called Thyme to Stop, features real and painted plant pots, with users of the bus stop encouraged to take part in a seed swap or take a pot home.

The bus stop has its own Facebook page, with more than 2,700 followers and has had many looks over the years.

Fowey Pretty Bus Stop bus stop with lifeboat painted inside Fowey Pretty Bus Stop
In 2024 the bus stop was decorated in the style of Hokusai's 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' to mark 200 years since the founding of the RNLI
Fowey Pretty Bus Stop bus stop with a cream team painted inside Fowey Pretty Bus Stop
In 2023 the design tackled the age-old debate - 'Jam first or cream first on a Cornish cream tea?'
Fowey Pretty Bus Stop bus stop with flowers painted inside Fowey Pretty Bus Stop
In 2021 the Pretty Bus Stop boasted a floral theme

Ms Worne said the designs were inspired by day-to-day life and never tried to be "too topical".

"It really is just for the joy of painting a bus stop," she said.

"People love it, people come to Fowey and it's great that people notice it.

"This latest design also had to have the skyline of Polruan in it because that's close to me.

"It's just a fun thing to do."

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