Work finished soon to transform Scarborough South Cliff Gardens
The £7 million project is restoring the area that's 200-years-old
People in Scarborough will be able to enjoy South Cliff gardens in all of its former glory this summer.
Work is continuing on the £7 million project to transform and restore the 200-year-old area.
It will also see the boarded up tunnel built in 1874, beneath the railway tracks of the cliff lift, re-opened to the public.
David Auton, Chair of the South Cliff Community Group, said: "The gardens are coming on really well. Our members are able to look past the issues that have been around and they are getting really quite excited about the fact that within the next few months, the gardens should be fully open and restored to their former glory.
"I think back to when we first started doing the gardens project, then all the fundraising in 2018, it just seems to be quite awesome really I suppose that we're here now. I don't think we actually contemplated quite how big it would be and how important it would be for people.
"Most of the pathways in the earlier two phases, certainly the northern end phases up to the cliff lift, they're now fully opened and people can go and explore that. The feedback from that is 'oh, what a wonderful job they've done on the shelters. It looks absolutely fantastic!'
"It's going to be a wonderful blend of restored Victoriana and moving into tomorrow's world. The exciting things that are on the gardens for today's and tomorrow's generations. I think that's going to be a wonderful and magical mix of timescales.
"I think there's an excitement that people can see through the tunnel and the realisation that they'll be able to walk from the northern end to the southern end of the gardens, without having to either go down to the coast path or up to the Esplanade. We have people in their 90s in the group and they say 'I can never remember the tunnel being open' and they're really excited."