Truro’s hedgehog roundabout named best in UK

Hedgehogs on roundabout — Image caption The hedgehogs have been on display since July

A roundabout featuring a family of four giant wooden hedgehogs has been named as the best in the UK.

The Roundabout Appreciation Society (RAS) praised the “quirky” roundabout in Truro, which features hedgehogs named Cecile, Patricia, Denzil and Kizzy.

The RAS also highlighted “beautiful” and “magnificent” roundabouts in Birmingham, Goole and Swindon.

The top examples will feature in the society’s 2020 calendar.

President Kevin Beresford – the self-styled “Lord of the Rings” – said the hedgehog roundabout would take the “coveted December page”.

He said: “It’s beautiful. We always like to see something quirky and with a bit of imagination.”

Mr Beresford added: “We get a lot of what we call ‘Titchmarshes‘, which is when they are in full bloom… but it’s always nice to see something a bit different.”

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Image caption This “cute” roundabout in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter features a clock built in 1903 to commemorate Joseph Chamberlain’s tour of South Africa marking the end of the Second Boer War

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Image caption The society says this roundabout in Goole is “somewhat strange” as it has “only one exit” guarded by a “menacing-looking” anti-aircraft gun

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Image caption This roundabout in Harrogate is a “beautiful Titchmarsh double-kerber” and an “oasis on a sea of tarmac”, according to Mr Beresford

Image copyright RAS

Image caption Nuneaton’s giant dandelion could prompt drivers to declare “water roundabout”

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Image caption This “magnificent” junction in Swindon is known as the Magic Roundabout

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Image caption Livingston has “some of the best roundabouts in Scotland”, Mr Beresford says

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Image caption The pump house on this traffic island in Pembroke was built in the late 19th Century