OK so it is a flight of fantasy rather than a folly but what a flight!
Inspired by a visit to the Masai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya, Brecon resident Gavin Hogg has sculpted the overgrown hedge around his garden into a herd of topiary elephants.
Mr Hogg spent two days crafting the seven adults and three babies with a trimmer, shears – and a pair of scissors for the fiddly bits.
The result is a striking 100ft-long trail of green elephants that stretches around the corner of his family home outside Brecon in Mid Wales
Mr Hogg said: ‘It was just a normal, fairly boring box hedge when I started. I found a picture of a group of elephants and set about shaping it. Time seemed to disappear while I was working on it.
‘I was able to create the appearance of folds in the skin and shadow lines for shoulder blades and hips.
‘I also clipped an eye in some of the adult elephants to give it greater authenticity. It was a lot of work and the ears and trunks were a bit tricky but I am pleased with the end result.’
Father-of-two Mr Hogg and his wife Vina, who visited the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya, farm organic vegetables at their 17th century home.
He added: ‘It’s great to see our own herd of elephants every time we look out of the window, even if they are green. They will need a haircut twice a year to smarten them up. But they will be a permanent feature.’
The topiary elephants are cut out of a hedge of common box (Buxus sempervirens) which was planted about 200 years ago.
(This story first appeared in the Daily Mail on 2 July 2009)
The Folly Fancier 