1996 - Volume #20, Issue #5, Page #19
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Straw Church Amazes Visitors To English Farm
Just about everyone who drove by Christopher Nevile's farm near Lincoln, England, this summer had to pull over and stop to figure out what they were looking at out in his fields."I've often looked at great straw stacks and thought how much more interesting they would look if built like something other than a big box," he says.
The result of his first experiment in "straw architecture" is a 70-ft. high replica of the Lincoln Cathedral that's made out of 1,000 big square bales and 390 small bales. He also used 14 thatched-over plastic traffic cones. Total construction time: more than 300 man hours.
He spray-painted the front facade of the church to give the impression of gabled windows, arches and doors. From a distance, most people think the bales are formed into those features.
The Lincoln Cathedral is the third tallest cathedral in England and many consider it to be the country's finest.
Nevile's construction was the highlight of a techical crop farming demonstration held on the farm this year and it also helped raise donations for the real cathedral.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Christopher Nevile, Nevile Estates, Aubourn & Haddington, Lincoln, England.
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