EXETER'S High Street is enjoying a welcome injection of colour thanks to the goodwill of a local nursery.

Tim and Simon Boyce have kindly offered to sponsor and plant up some of the hanging baskets in the High street for a second successive summer.

The brothers, who own and run a specialist hanging basket nursery at Shillingford st George near Alphington, had noticed that due to Council cut backs, the hanging baskets near McGaheys on the High Street had not been refilled.

They decided that it would be a nice gesture to fill the baskets and maintain them during the summer months to show everyone the quality of the displays they produce.

The baskets are already in place on the High Street and it is hoped that they will last until the autumn.

Cllr Keith Owen, Lead Councillor for Environment, Health and Wellbeing, said he was thrilled with the goodwill gesture. “We were delighted when the Boyces offered to provide the hanging baskets on the High Street again this year, especially considering how well the displays were received last summer.

"It’s so positive when a local company like this can give something back to the city. It’s inevitable that some council services will be affected by the ongoing financial cuts to local government, so we are really keen to work with other organisations, as we have with the Boyces, to ensure that the city centre continues to look great.”

Boyces currently also supply a number of small independent traders in the city centre including all the baskets in Gandy Street as well as McGaheys the Tobacconist and Michael Spiers jewellers. They maintain the baskets in summer and winter too providing much appreciated foliage and flowers in the heart of the city. As well as this they also supply the baskets for the Guildhall shopping centre.

The brothers are no strangers to doing work like this as they currently supply Sidmouth, Exmouth, Dawlish, Teignmouth, Shaldon and Bovey Tracey with their hanging baskets, planters and in some cases they plant out flower beds too.