Thousands of walkers who start or finish the 630-mile South West Coast Path at Minehead, Somerset, now have a striking new sculpture to mark this point of their journey, thanks to Sarah Ward.
In 1999, as a part of a contest for A-level students at West Somerset College, she came up with the idea for a 12ft sculpture in galvanised steel costing £19,000. The sculptor Owen Cunningham, from Belper, Derbyshire, was commissioned to make it by the South West Coast Path Team, part of the Government’s Countryside Agency.
Eric Wallis, a spokesman for the walkers’ voluntary body, the South West Coast Path Association, said at the time: “It is a fitting landmark for the Minehead end of Britain’s longest national trail. Now walkers will be able to celebrate their arrival or departure in style.”
