Visitors to Gyllyngdune Gardens will find access to the lower levels easier since a new hand rail has been donated and installed.

The Friends of Princess Pavilion, a group which organises monthly social events as well as raising funds for the site, arranged to pay for the rail, made by local craftsmen, to be installed on the steps leading down from near the bandstand after identifying a need among visitors.

The group also paid for an inscribed stone bearing a poem on Gyllyngdune by 19th century Cornish poet John Harris to be placed in one of the flower beds in the garden.

Maureen Davies, the organisation chair, said: “We had some money which we had collected for anything the friends wanted, and it was established that there was a lack of a hand rail down those steps. There are a lot of elderly people who come here.

“We commissioned a local wrought iron artist, and the result is superb.

“At the same time we were offered the option of having a memorial to John Harris.

He was a Cornish poet and we thought the remnant of the money we had would be sufficient to commission a stone, and we got a local stonemason.”

She added: “I think the handrail will be very much appreciated, not only by locals but by visitors.”

The handrail was crafted by Penryn blacksmith Kevin Gerry, while another smith from Mawnan, Richard Hingley, made the decorative pieces.

The stone was inscribed with a poem written by Harris, a poet and Bible reader from Camborne who visited Gyllyngdune when it was a private estate owned by the Rev W J Coope, who was vicar of |nearby King Charles Church.

The poem was found by Jacqui Owen, visitor and education officer at Gyllyngdune, during research, and the stone was planted by head gardener Matt Stannard with the help of volunteer David Varker.