Willow Man
The Willow Man is a monumental wicker sculpture standing approximately 12 metres tall beside the A38 near Bridgwater in Somerset, England. It is one of the most striking and unusual pieces of public art in the South West, beloved by travellers who pass by on the busy road linking Bristol and Exeter. The figure depicts a striding human form rendered entirely in woven willow, its arms outstretched in a gesture that has been variously interpreted as welcoming, celebratory, or reaching toward something unseen. It has become a beloved landmark and an informal symbol of Somerset's deep connection to the wetlands and willow culture of the Somerset Levels.
The sculpture was created by artist Serena de la Hey and was first erected in 2000 as part of the millennium celebrations, initially intended as a temporary installation. Its warm reception from the public, who quickly adopted it as a local icon, led to it becoming a permanent fixture in the landscape. Serena de la Hey has long been associated with willow weaving and environmental sculpture, and the Willow Man is widely regarded as her masterpiece. In 2001, a fire — widely suspected to be arson — destroyed the original figure. Rather than abandon the project, De la Hey rebuilt it, this time treating the willow with a fire-retardant coating to protect against future attacks. The rebuilt figure was re-erected in 2003 and has stood since then, though its organic material requires periodic maintenance and renewal to keep the form intact and weather-resistant.
Physically, the Willow Man is an arresting sight. The interwoven withies create a dense yet airy texture, and depending on the season and the age of the willow used, the colouring of the figure shifts between golden tan, silvery grey, and warmer amber tones. Up close, the craftsmanship is remarkable — thousands of individual stems woven together with great precision to produce the musculature and posture of a walking figure. There is a primal, almost ancient quality to the piece, as if it might belong to a pre-Roman tradition of sacred effigy-making rather than the twenty-first century. The sound around the figure on a windy day is a subtle rustling and creaking that feels unexpectedly alive.
The surrounding landscape is the flat, expansive Somerset Levels, a low-lying landscape of drained moors, rhynes (drainage ditches), and willow pollards stretching toward the Quantock Hills to the west and the Mendips to the north. This is one of England's most distinctive and atmospheric landscapes, rich in bird life, history, and myth. The levels have been home to willow cultivation for centuries — much of it used in the basket-making and eel-trapping trades — and the Willow Man feels entirely at home in this environment. The nearby town of Bridgwater is only a few minutes' drive away, and the Somerset Levels and Moors, including the RSPB's Greylake and Ham Wall reserves, are within easy reach.
Visiting the Willow Man is straightforward: it is visible from the A38 dual carriageway between Bridgwater and Taunton, positioned in a field beside the road near the village of Othery. There is a small layby from which visitors can stop and photograph the figure, though walking right up to the base of the sculpture is not always possible depending on the current access arrangements with the landowner. It is best seen in daylight, and the low winter sun or the golden light of early autumn particularly flatters its organic tones. The sculpture can also be glimpsed briefly from the M5 motorway nearby, and it often surprises drivers who encounter it for the first time.
One of the fascinating dimensions of the Willow Man is its relationship to the ancient British tradition of votive and ritual use of wicker. Julius Caesar and other Roman writers described enormous wicker effigies used in Celtic religious rites, and though the Willow Man was born of entirely contemporary artistic intentions, it inevitably evokes those older resonances. Somerset itself is steeped in such mythology — the levels were once considered liminal, watery places between worlds, and nearby Glastonbury carries its own vast weight of legend. Whether or not Serena de la Hey intended such connotations, the figure has absorbed them, and many visitors report a strong emotional or even spiritual reaction to it that goes beyond simple appreciation of a roadside artwork.