Great Western Coffee Shop

It seems if you took advantage of one of these pristine looking seats at Barnstaple you would not only be trespassing...

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/bnpseat.jpg)

..but also have a long wait...

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/bnpseat1.jpg)

Is this what you call passive provision?

... or profligacy?

If they are accessible as a "garden" to the general public, then what a brilliant idea - perhaps go a little further and add picnic benches.   Even at various unlikely spots, you'll find Dad taking little Johnny to have a look at the trains - "we love it here just watching the occasional train" ...

Unfortunately, they are just decorative.
When the waiting room was refurbished, the benches were too big to fit the space, so were re-appropriated on the former platform as a feature.
The recent spruce up of the overgrowth has just re-exposed them.

A busier scene at Barnstaple, taken around the same time and part of the TravelWatch SouthWest series (https://www.facebook.com/travelwatchsouthwest/photos/a.582545811956698.1073741828.582518478626098/657509784460300/?type=3&theater) that's under way at the moment, from the 30 picture on the montage.

If you want to see the whole of that series, "like" the TravelWatch SouthWest page please (that will also help our visibility on Facebook) ... and please feel free - very free - to share the Barnstaple post (or any others in the series!).