This week we travelled to Somerset for a couple of days. Over the years we’ve spent many hours up and down the M5 and each time we pass what I call the Straw Man, skinny arms stretched out, a small head and muscular legs, the image of a man running south, I keep meaning to find out more about him. Well, now I have.

His real title is “Willow Man“, sculpted by Serena de la Hay. He stands next to the M5 near Bridgwater in Somerset. I don’t have a photo because I only ever see him when we’re driving on the motorway but Serena’s website has some excellent photos.On Wednesday when we passed he had a bird on his head and yesterday on our return trip I jokingly said I wonder if the bird is still on the Straw Man’s head – and there it was!  I much prefer the Willow Man to the Angel of the North, which you can see from the A1. Amazing to think that a model of the Angel was valued at £1m recently on the Antiques Roadshow!

Not far from the Willow Man you can see the M5 Camels also standing in a field beside the motorway. Humphrey has been there as long as I can remember travelling to Somerset, but he’s changed over the years and now has a smaller companion, Bernard. Not creatures you’d expect to see next to the motorway – but maybe they’re related to the Concrete Cows in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre!