New Decorative Entrance Sign at Ridgeway Farm
New Entrance Sign Installed December 2023
As 2023 came to a close, I was able to install this new entrance sign on the Purton Road. Designed and made by me in my Wiltshire forge, this large sign has been in the pipeline for a long time as a part of the Ridgeway Farm Public Art Project.
I started working with Taylor Wimpey on this project in 2013 so 10 years on is not too bad all things considered!
This has been a lovely piece for me to forge, great complex shapes and very long pieces of steel to make the bull rush leaves. The overall design has a lightness and it reflects the history of the location. My theme for the project has been nature and this is a good example of my more illustrative works. The finish is galvanised steel with gold leaf detailing that catches the sunlight.
With residents input from ‘Walk & Talk’ days on site, I came up with 3 designs for the new entrance sign. During Covid lockdown, the residents voted for this design depicting the large hill, river and farming history of the site. It measures 2.8m tall and really welcomes people to the development from the Purton village road.
You can visit the lovely open spaces at Ridgeway Farm and walk to the River Ray on the footpath under the railway bridge.
Bat Boxes
If you are on site, you might see the bat boxes I made and installed in 2020. They are can be found to the west end of the development heading towards the footpath PURT77 https://wiltscouncil.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=43d5a86a545046b2b59fd7dd49d89d22
You can find other bat boxes on the Western end Public open space near Cob Hill and at the southern Upper Mill area and Little Ground.
Ridgeway Farm Community Orchard
The last phase of this 4 stage public art project is planting the community orchard on site – the last day for this will be 20th January 2024 then the residents will be taking their community orchard on for the future.
You can come along and see what we are doing! Pick up a Ridgeway Farm Art Project nature trail map while you are there or print a colour in version from here:
Contact me for more info or to discuss other public art projects and follow the progress on my Instagram page.