Sculpture Mud Maiden. Lost Gardens of Heligan, UK.

In the southwestern part of England there is an amazing and magical place, breathing legends and tales of King Arthur, Tristan and Isolde, knights, ladies and pirate caves – this is the county of Cornwall. It was there that the Lost Gardens of Heligan were located. This is the most fabulous park in the UK.

The gardens were created by the Tremaine family back in the 18th century, and then, in order to maintain beauty and order, 22 gardeners looked after the vast territory. With the outbreak of the First World War, the entire male population went to the front. There was no one to take care of the plants, and gradually the gardens withered and overgrown… Only half a century later, a man was found – Tim Smith, who found funds to restore the withered gardens.

Now this marvelous place is saturated with romance and has a lot of surprises. One of these is an unusual sculpture – a beautiful maiden sleeping in the shade of centuries-old trees, whose clothes are sewn by nature itself every season.

This Sculpture is called “Mud Maiden” because it was created from a windproof mesh and a mixture of mud and concrete.

The mesh was hung on a wooden frame and the resulting silhouette was smeared with a mud mixture. Well, in order for grass and moss to grow there, ordinary yogurt was added to the base of the sculpture!

The idea to build such a maiden came to British artists Pete and Sue Hill more than 20 years ago.

Virgo really looks alive and sleeping.

And next to the fence hangs a sign with the inscription: “Do not cross this fence, so as not to wake the Mud Maiden while she is fast asleep.”

Her clothes and hair are growing grass, moss and wild ivy.

Depending on the seasons, clothes and hairstyles change.

If in spring and summer it is juicy green grass, then in autumn it adds yellow colors, and in winter the maiden looks like a sleeping bride in white on white. Very gentle and beautiful.