Gnome row costs £4,500

One of Mrs Humphreys' roadside creatures

A legal row about gnomes and flowerpots has cost the Welsh Assembly Government £4,500.

Action was taken against Dot's Diner, a roadside cafe in Cenmaes Road near Machynlleth, because flower pots and statues including garden gnomes and nursery rhyme characters outside the cafe were considered potential hazards.

But magistrates ruled they were not causing a nuisance, and the assembly had to pay legal costs.

Last week, cafe owner Dot Humphreys said she was delighted after hearing the Welsh assembly had decided against a appealing to overturn the court decision.

Mrs Humphreys thought her fight to keep her collection on display was over last November after Powys County Council lost a court case to make her remove them.

The council failed to convince magistrates that ornaments were distracting motorists and a hazard to pedestrians and cyclists.

In April the assembly stepped in to appeal against the court's decision - but later backed down. "The original decision to appeal had to be taken before we had sight of the court case as stated," said an assembly spokesman.

Humpty will be allowed to sit on his wall outside the cafe

"We have now seen the case and, whilst we still don't agree with the findings, we can see nothing in the case which would substantiate an appeal."

"Accordingly, we are not proceeding further but we believe the county council acted correctly in prosecuting the case on our behalf."

The collection of gnomes has stood outside Dot's Diner on the A489 for five years since Ms Humphreys and her partner, Tony Lawrence, opened the cafe.

"We've been here for five years. It's a fast road but in all that time there's not been one accident," said Ms Humphreys.

"I can't believe it's all over. This has caused me so much worry over the last couple of years.

"I only started putting on the display to make the cafe more attractive for my customers."

"But now the customers bring me flowers including petunias and geraniums, the whole place looks gorgeous."

A petition backing Mrs Humphreys was signed by nearly 6,000 people before and after the court case.