An ARRAY of coastal plants have been found to be thriving on Sidmouth beach for the first time.

Sidmouth in Bloom members have set about protecting the flora – which was found near the Millennium Walk and Jacob’s Ladder – so that it can be preserved and safeguarded.

Members have been weeding the area by hand to better enable the discovery to thrive.

“Growing in the shingles at present is sea beet, sea holly, sea poppy and coastal grass,” the group’s chairman Lynette Talbot told the Herald.

“For the first time we’ve managed to get an ecosystem on the beach. We are hoping to expand the flora to include other well known species such as sea kale and thrift.

“We’ve had a lot of positive response. The beach is sprayed to kill the weeds. But by hand-weeding a small section down at the end of the promenade, from beside the Millennium Walk to Jacob’s Ladder, we are using less herbicides and helping to preserve the beach as it may have originally looked.

“The yellow horned poppies are a beautiful sight in summer. We hope that visitors and the people of Sidmouth can appreciate this small garden on the shingles.”

Bloom members have also recently been given permission to rejuvenate garden beds near Sidmouth’s health centre and library.

The work will require cash donations to buy topsoil and shrubs. Anyone willing to help out with the work can call Lynette on 01395 578081.

? The next meeting for friends of Sidmouth in Bloom will take place on May 19 at the Methodist Church Hall in the High Street from 2pm to 5pm.