AN £18,000 grant to improve sections of the West Devon Drive from Lifton to Sourton will pay off in spring next year when the hedges become a haze of blossom.

The money from the Devon and West Somerset Key Fund will enable the verges of five sections of the route to be cleared and tidied, new bulbs and flowers planted ready for flowering next spring, and a section of footpath to be created.

More than three years after the project to make the road more attractive for tourism purposes was started new bed and breakfast establishments have popped up and more people are using the road, now classified as the C822, as an alternative to the dual-carriageway.

So far, £80,000 has been spent on the 12-mile route which has provided work for a number of local people.

Monies for the project have come from European funds and landfill tax after Devon County Council was no longer able to provide the finances to maintain the road in the manner it used to.

One of the key instigators of the West Devon Drive project, Bob Westlake from Lewdown, said the latest grant was specifically for work at Lifton, Stowford, Lewdown, Bridestowe and Sourton.

He said: 'This time we will be clearing old and ugly vegetation from the verges of these five sections and keeping them tidy.

'We will also be creating a new section of footpath at Lewdown.'

Mr Westlake said new tourism businesses had been set up along the West Devon Drive now it was being maintained and enhanced.

'Just being able to travel along the West Devon Drive by whatever means is more pleasant because it is a lot more attractive then it was before,' he added.

'People can take their time and stop and enjoy what they see.

'As long as I can persuade funders like the Devon and West Somerset Key Fund that what we are doing is for the good of the community for economic and environmental reasons then I will be able to keep raising the money.'