New Drusillas roundabout feature inspired by local school children

^{PUBLISHED 11/03/22}

New Drusillas roundabout feature inspired by local school children

Passers-by of Drusillas Park in Alfriston can now spot giant wild animals outside the zoo, in the new topiary roundabout installation depicting a group of meerkats, penguins and lemurs.

The project was a collaboration between National Highways, Drusillas Park, and Alfriston School – with children asked to submit drawings of what they wanted to see on the roundabout. A number of the children’s designs used animals from the Park, which inspired Drusillas’ final design, who they commissioned Agrumi Topiary Art to bring to life.

Agrumi Topiary Art commented: “The sculptures were all constructed from Agrumi's custom-built workshop in the New Forest. Our head topiary artist firstly created the metal armature forms by carefully bending lots of pieces of metal by hand into the shape of each animal. Then, the whole workshop team worked to cover these forms in artificial foliage.

This is a slow process as each section of foliage is correctly cut to size to suit the shape and angle of the animal’s features. Agrumi have made lots of different animals in the past, but mostly British wildlife, so it was fun to create a group of exotic animals!

National Highways route manager for the south east Peter Phillips, said:

“The strategic road network is all about connecting people and communities. When National Highways carries out vital upgrades to that network, we become part of the community we are improving. That’s why we were delighted to partner Drusillas Zoo and local schools, who also wanted to contribute their thoughts on what should be on the roundabout at Lewes. This green sculpture is a glowing example of how a topiary like this can improve the local spaces of people living and working near our roads. Hopefully it will also inspire generations to come.”