One man went to mow…
A Cotswold hotelier who caused a stir four years ago when he defied a council's order to stop cutting the roadside verges is at it again. This time Ray Vaughan's efforts to tidy the lawns of his picture-postcard village of Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire, have upset the parish council.
Vaughan, owner of the 15-bedroom Lower Slaughter Manor and the 28-bedroom Washbourne Court, has received a letter from the council ordering him to stop his tidying work.
It said his mowing was "unnecessary" and added that it achieved "an undesirable bowling green finish resulting in quicker wear and tear".
Vaughan said the council was "narrow-minded" and would have to get a court order to stop him.
He said it was thanks to his work that the village won the Bledisloe Cup for the best-kept small village in the county last year. The council even used one of Vaughan's hotels in which to celebrate the award, but did not invite him.
In 1997, Gloucestershire County Council ordered him to stop cutting the roadside verges near another of his hotels, the 13-bedroom Buckland Manor in Worcester, but he vowed to carry on cutting (Caterer, 31 July 1997, page 8).
