Local News

What do zoo gardeners get each other for Christmas? A plant, of course – but not just any old plant. Gardeners at Paignton Zoo in Devon have given their colleagues at Marwell Zoo in Hampshire a Titan arum – one of the largest and smelliest plants in the world.

Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) blooms can be up to 3 metres high and 3 metres in circumference and smell like rotting meat. To be honest, this one looks a bit underwhelming right now – there’s no foliage, just the tuber, the swollen food store found underneath the soil. Big plants need big tubers – this one is more than...

There were some extra special visitors to Bramble Ward at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital this week.

Exeter City Football Club’s first-team players took time out of their busy training schedule to visit children and teenagers on the ward – some of whom will be spending the festive period in hospital.

The players delivered dozens of bears, toys, calendars, footballs and signed merchandise to the young patients.

The players who visited the ward were manager Matt Taylor, assistant manager Eric Kinder, Pierce Sweeney, Jake Taylor, Lee Holmes, Jayden Stockley, Dean...

Stagecoach South West have released the special Christmas and New Year bus schedule detailing services over the holiday season.

Services will run up to Christmas Eve to accommodate as many people as possible during the busy festive period. Services are set to finish slightly earlier on Christmas and New Years Eve, in preparation for the annual holiday, but routes will continue to operate through to around 7-9pm, to ensure people can travel after work and shopping.

Two specific service changes just for both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve affect the H bus service in Exeter,...

International animal welfare charity The Donkey Sanctuary has been awarded an Artisan Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019. The ‘Donkeys Matter’ garden will act as a focal point to celebrate the charity’s 50th anniversary and to showcase its international work. The Donkey Sanctuary was able to apply for a garden thanks to the generosity of a long-term supporter.

The ‘Donkeys Matter’ garden will use water as its central theme. The garden will demonstrate how owning a donkey means access to clean, fresh water for some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world...