A TEAM of skilled artists from Zigong in China’s Sichuan province are hard at work creating thousands of giant illuminated lanterns as part of The Festival of Light event which opens at Longleat on Friday, November 11.
Among the artworks are a trio of life-size porcelain elephants, painstakingly made out of thousands of individual Chinese plates, bowls, cups and spoons.
Other highlights include a 20-metre-tall birthday cake to celebrate 50 years of Longleat Safari Park, a group of Longleat’s infamous monkeys dismantling a car and an avenue of four-metre-high lions.
The festival also features dozens of characters from Beatrix Potter’s favourite stories including Peter Rabbit, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, Jemima Puddle-Duck and Jeremy Fisher all to mark the 150th anniversary of her birth in 2016.
The lanterns, many of which have to be built on site due to their size, will create a series of massive illuminated outdoor tableaux at the estate.
The event is set to be the biggest ever staged in the UK and will feature over 2,500 individual lights, 20 km of silk, more than 30,000 bulbs and over 4km of LED lighting.
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