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There's a whacking great lion on the lawn!

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 07:26 UK time, Friday, 24 October 2008

[Imagine] You're an English holidaymaker travelling back home from north Wales. You've had a fab time, the locals were great [goes without saying] and, despite the weather, all went well.

Then, to round it off, you see her as you approach the Welsh-English border on the A5117 / A550 at Deeside. She's 20 metres long and nine metres high - a sculpture of white stone cut into the turf. She's a lion and the pride of England.

But what about the people on the other side of the border? Surely they'd have preferred a sculpture of a dragon!

The newspaper has been asking for people's thoughts with Cllr Tony Sharps leading the way: "I think it's disgusting, it's a mad idea. If they want to build something it should be a dragon, not a lion. Lions belong in the jungle. It dosen't promote Wales whatsoever and I think it's a complete insult to the Welsh."

Strictly speaking, the lion is in England - just about. It's beyond Shotwick Lights on [before you get to the Little Chef]. And this is what it looks like, courtesy of the .

Woodbank Lion

Richard Waddell, the artist from landscape architects, Moore Environment, who designed the feature said: "The Woodbank lion presents a dynamic modern image of our English national symbol in tune with a modern high speed road but with echoes of the distant past. The stylized shape was inspired by the patterns in Anglo Saxon and Celtic jewellery. Its form etched into the landscape also represents an ancient technique but one which meets modern demands for a long life with minimal maintenance."

I guess if the budget for the design and the is coming from England, they should at least be able to chose what they want, shouldn't they?

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