I think you might find that a) BT won't let you paint it in the first instance and b) their poles used to be soaked in creosote to preserve them. I know creosote is now banned but I would imagine they are soaked in some kind of preservative chemical that paint might not adhere to, especially pale paint. I think you might be better off putting a climber in a big half-barrel by the side of it and encouraging the climber up the pole. You would need something that doesn't mind being cut down every few years, one of the late flowering vigerous clematis perhaps or even an annual climber. It does seem strange to have a telegraph post in your garden, have you asked BT about having it moved?
I like the seat (so long as it’s removable for access), the mirror ideas or a folding screen in front of it. I don’t think the authorities would be keen on you growing a climber up it either, the techs would probably come at the wrong time of year, when your climber is in full flow, and moan.
An alternative idea is to incorporate it into a feature by putting a matching one, to 2-3 metres high, no need to be as chunky, the other side, supported on a sturdy metal plate or heavy parasol stand, and a horizontal cross bar supported on the pole side with another vertical post in front of it, so it is like a ‘frame’ framing the view of the rest of the garden below. Or even better, a large, wide rose arch with one side near the pole with a climbing rose or any other climber grown up and over either side. The roses would need good, big pots. Basically, distract the eye from it, draw the eye down or along and away from it.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
In our previous house, we had a telegraph pole in the front garden. It was near the pavement end of the garden, but was, frankly, an eyesore. The previous owners had grown a hawthorn in front of it as a sort of disguise. It didn't work. What we opted for in the end was to let ivy grow up and around it. The bees just loved the late flowering mature ivy. Wrens and, I think, robins used it for nesting. When the chaps came around to check it ( and put one of those "danger of death" signs on it) I asked them not to trim below about 10 ft. They were happy to oblige. Visually it distracted from the plain pole. Nature benefited - all sorts of creepy crawlies made it their home. Birds loved the berries in winter. Win win. (We were paid a Wayleave of something like £5 pa for it!)
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It does seem strange to have a telegraph post in your garden, have you asked BT about having it moved?
An alternative idea is to incorporate it into a feature by putting a matching one, to 2-3 metres high, no need to be as chunky, the other side, supported on a sturdy metal plate or heavy parasol stand, and a horizontal cross bar supported on the pole side with another vertical post in front of it, so it is like a ‘frame’ framing the view of the rest of the garden below. Or even better, a large, wide rose arch with one side near the pole with a climbing rose or any other climber grown up and over either side. The roses would need good, big pots. Basically, distract the eye from it, draw the eye down or along and away from it.
What we opted for in the end was to let ivy grow up and around it. The bees just loved the late flowering mature ivy. Wrens and, I think, robins used it for nesting.
When the chaps came around to check it ( and put one of those "danger of death" signs on it) I asked them not to trim below about 10 ft. They were happy to oblige.
Visually it distracted from the plain pole. Nature benefited - all sorts of creepy crawlies made it their home. Birds loved the berries in winter. Win win.
(We were paid a Wayleave of something like £5 pa for it!)