Weston Super Mare Sand Sculpture Festival 2014

A few weeks ago we hopped over to Weston Super Mare to visit their Sand Sculpture Festival. It's been running in various formats for 8 years now, with a different theme each season - this year is 'Once Upon A Time' with all sorts of magical and literary characters.

 

We managed to get a couple of cheap tickets through Living Social which included a programme and some hot drinks and managed to visit the site on what must have been the windiest day of the year so far.

 

So out came the phone, away went the fancy camera and on went the glasses (and even then we both ended up covered in sand!)
 

 One of my favourite sculptures (and one of my favourite childhood stories) - Matilda by Dutch artist Arianne Van Rosemalen.

 

 

 The castle is based on the Brothers Grimm Fairytales with each side decorated as a different story - all created by Italian artist Laura Scavuzzo and German artist Susanne Paucker.

 Where the Wild Things Are by Czech artist Jan Zelinka.



 The Hobbit by Latvian artist Uldis Zarins.

 I loved this one (Romeo and Juliet), it's just so evocative and the expression on Romeo's face is so detailed. This one's been sculpted by Dutch artist Marielle Heessels.

 Gulliver's Travels by Czech artist Radek Zivny.

 The Lion and the Mouse by English artist Rachel Stubbs.

The other side of the Brothers Grimm Fairytale castle.

 

 

 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by the brilliantly named English artist Baldrick Buckle.

 

 

 Alice in Wonderland by Dutch artist Anique Kuizenga.

 I'm not sure who this fella belonged to!

Paddington Bear by English artist Rachel Stubbs.

  

 

The Sand Sculpture Festival is on every day til 5th October. It's not that expensive to get in and won't take you very long to look round so is definitely well worth a visit if you're in the area.

(although having said that, I've now shown you half the displays, ah well, it's still worth going, they make a mean cup of tea and the cakes in the café are quite tasty too)