With over 5000 tonnes of sand and 30 amazingly detailed sand sculptures to enjoy at the Weston Sand Sculpture Festival, picking just 10 of my favourites has been quite a challenge!

The theme for the 2018 sand sculpture festival at Weston Super Mare, Somerset was ‘the circus’. This theme allowed for some incredible sand sculptures that detailed the history of the circus, it’s controversies and also the sheer brilliance of its entertainment factor.

To find out more about the festival and my visit a few weeks ago check out the post I wrote – there are loads more photos of the festival and sculptures to see too!

When picking my top ten sculptures I decided to pick 5 from the main festival and 5 entries from the competition zone.

Here we go..

Main Festival Sculptures:

1. Monkey business

This is the first sculpture you spot once you have entered the festival and what a sculpture it is! I love how fun and exciting it is and how it’s also on one of the photo opportunity sculptures visitors can get involved with and have their photo taken on. You can jump into the car with the monkeys and see what monkey business you can get up to!

2. Elephant

I was really intrigued by this sculpture and thought the elephant looked so realistic and lifelike. The information board accompanying the sculpture told visitors that elephants first appeared within the circus in the UK back in 1810. The information also detailed how ex-prime minister David Cameron promised to ban wild animals in the use of circus acts within England and Wales. Sadly, as the artist went on to explain, how this promise was not kept and that in some place animals are still being used within circuses and as entertainment today. This made me feel really sad and disappointed. I immediately felt sorry for the elephant, which obviously wasn’t real, however it symbolised other elephants and animals that should be out roaming in the wild and not used for human entertainment.

3. Strong man

This sculpture made me smile, I’m not sure why but it really did. It reminded me not of going to the circus, but instead of watching the worlds strongest man on TV with my big sister – maybe that’s why it made me smile!

4. Bear

Again this was another sculpture that encouraged visitors to think about the history of the circus. Bears used to be a regular feature in circus entertainment as they are very intelligent and could be taught skills and tricks. Luckily no bears are used within circuses today which is definitely a good thing in my eyes!

5. Fortune teller

This rather cheeky sculpture is situated outside the front of the festival and is obviously a fortune teller – I guess she spent her summer predicting visitors would have a fun time at the festival! I didn’t actually notice her as I went in – surprising given her rather ample bosoms but did on the way out and thought it was a great sculpture.

Competition Zone Sculptures:

1. Unbearable

Another bear sculpture – this one looking very fed up at being part of the circus which made me feel really sad. This one made me think about how lots of people visiting the circus in the past would have loved seeing a bear perform tricks, and whilst I understand that, it is just so cruel. I thought about what the living conditions may have been like for the animals backstage and how they would have been kept caged up and punished for not performing. Definitely makes you pleased bears aren’t used in circuses today, doesn’t it!

2. Puppet master

This sculpture seemed to be really popular on the day I visited with lots of younger children admiring it and saying how cute the teddy bear looked. The artist created this sculpture around the idea asking whether there is a great puppet master controlling us and thinking about the powerful position the media hold. Another thought-provoking sculpture and more than meets the eye!

3. Who knows what we saw

I thought this sculpture really summed up fun at the circus for me. I am not one who is scared of clowns and have luckily always found them to be funny growing up and as an adult. This one depicts the trick of pretending to saw someone in half – always a good one to watch just in case it goes wrong! I liked how the clown’s noses were red in colour too!

4. Horror clown

On the theme of clowns, I chose this horror clown sculpture as one of my favourites – purely for how horribly scary it is! As I just said above, I’ve never been one to be afraid of clowns but after seeing this double-sided clown I’m now not so sure about their harmless nature! I’m not sure I’ll be watching the new ‘IT’ film anytime soon…!

5. Animal crackers: elect a clown, expect a circus

I hadn’t realised until I wrote this that I had chosen another clown themed sculpture to put in my favourites – I guess these must symbolise the circus for me! I liked this cheeky chappy though and the detail on his outfit – so clever. I really enjoyed the humour in the title of the sculpture too. Apparently, the artist created this sculpture based on the film ‘Animal Crackers’ which is about a family that aims to save a run-down circus – I personally haven’t seen it before myself but am intrigued to check it out now!

So there we have it, my favourites from this year’s Weston Sand Sculpture Festival! Don’t forget to check out my full blog post reviewing the festival and both mine and the festival’s Instagram pages for more details and pictures!

*** I was given free entry to the festival, however, all thoughts, pictures and opinions are entirely my own ***

Which sculpture grabbed your attention the most?