h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I first heard about it a year ago or so. That a sculpture artist had planted a horses head in a field nearby. He was apparently a well known artist that had planted a few horses parts in fields around the country. I also vaguely recalled seeing a photo in the news of a horse, several times life size rearing out of the ground. I also recalled Mrs D exclaiming in some little surprise as we drove home one evening during the summer, that she had seen it. It seemed like a good idea to go have a look at it. But where?

Neither of us could recall exactly where that was. Searching the internet produced little information on its location other than it was overlooking the A3 main road near the Oxshott interchange. Looking at the aerial Google map produced nothing. It later turned out that the photographs pre-dated the sculptures installation. Nevertheless checking the map produced a couple of possibilities that looked likely so I took myself off with the dog to give him a walk at the same time.

We parked up at the other side of the village and walked across an area known as Arbrook common. It’s a place I’m familiar with as I’ve jogged around that area and taken part in a 10k race there. The far side of the common backs up against the London bound railway line and the fields I was looking for are on the other side of the A3 at the end of the common. So it meant crossing the rail line, then the common, and then the A3 at the far side. Crossing the rail bridge was easy enough but the main road had to be via an underpass which was partly flooded had to be negotiated around the worst of the mud in the unlit passageway. Coming out on the other side I could see the ground rose in an incline and the path took a sharp turn. On the other side I could see the target of the horse head outlined against the skyline.

The head was about 200 yards away up the incline. The only trouble now preventing a closer look being a substantial wooden fence topped by an electric wire and a herd of cows grazing in the field. As far as I could see there was no way around all this to get a clearer picture. The best I could manage was with the telephoto facility on the camera. I took a couple of pictures, had a chat with a another passing dog walker who wanted to know what it was, then went on around the path that bordered the field.

The upshot was that the path petered out near an access road to the A3. On the other side was a fairly considerable industrial building that closed off any access further around. At that point I gave up and retraced my steps to get back to civilisation. So that was it, I had to make do with the photos I had, which turned out not too badly but lack any real detail. Maybe I’ll go back another time for another try… or maybe not.

Did the sculptor make the farmer whose field it was an offer they couldn't refuse?

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