This 20m diameter 7-path labyrinth was created for ‘The Great Get Together’ weekend, inspired by Jo Cox, MP. It was commissioned by Arts Taunton as a collaboration with fellow artist-in-residence, Christopher Jelley. We had the support of The Friends of Longrun Meadow and the Somerset Wildlife Trust in order to place it in the meadow. It’s now a mappable thing in its own right, on Google Maps.
The Grass Labyrinth at Longrun Meadow from Christopher Jelley on Vimeo.
On the day quite a challenge to mow, as the grass was high and the mower we’d borrowed from a garden centre (just repaired) wasn’t helping. It stopped working after we’d cut the goal at the centre and the just the shortest of the 7 paths… so we improvised and took to rolling it instead, dragging it round the huge curves with a thick rope – on the hottest day of the year! Luckily our first visitors were two wonderful women on mobility scooters – who we promptly invited to drive along the pathways we’d marked out and help finish them for us.
Photograph by Morag Ballantyne
It was all worth it – by 1:30pm we were finished, presentable and ready to meet the press – the BBC came, Rebecca Pow, the local MP came, Jon Beard, a drone pilot came (thank you John) – and over 200 people showed up too…
We ran events on the labyrinth all afternoon – from guessing/counting the steps, to drawing labyrinths, to ‘in with the old, out with the new’ – coming up with fresh ideas for the future of Taunton as a Garden Town.
The feedback has been good, and we’re hoping to put it back on the map as soon as the grass is a little longer after its summer trim.
Photograph by Hester Stanwood
Aerial drone photos & footage by Jon Beard
Film by Christopher Jelley