Works to re-thatch the "overly ornate" Belle Vue Cottage at Belle Vue Park in Lowestoft - the town's first free public park - has been completed.

Works to re-thatch the (Image: Mick Howes)

The thatched lodge in Belle Vue Park was built in 1873 at a cost of £256 - the equivalent of £34,883.35 in 2024.

Belle Vue Park, off Yarmouth Road, was officially opened on May 28, 1874 and its layout has remained largely unaltered since then.

It cost £10,000 - around £1.4m in 2024 - when created on land to the north of the town where washerwomen would traditionally lay out their washing to bleach in the sun.

Mr G B Simpson of Clapham, London was given the task to design the park and construct a thatched keeper's cottage.

This would later become the home of the groundskeeper who oversaw the park.

The original thatched cottage was constructed in the cottage orné style, with elaborate chimneys, decorated bargeboards and rustic woodwork.

But in 1990 the original building was destroyed in a........

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