I recently walked through the gardens at Preston Manor and couldn’t believe how run down they have become.

I have lived in the area most of my life and have never seen it looking so dilapidated.

I used to love to walk through the Garden for the Blind with its lovely sweet smelling flowers and lavender borders. It is now devoid of any flowers and people are pitching tents and marquees in the garden for their picnics and barbecues.

There is also a large, coloured rubber slide in front of the seating enclosure and I noticed the manor gardens are so overgrown with bindweed-type plants you would need a scythe to cut a pathway through.

Is this a sign of the times for gardens in Brighton?

M Dyson
London Road, Brighton