Burton Swans Sculpture Trail: Fun in the Sun

In my recent 2020 review post, I asked you guys what you most wanted to read about next based on my favourite travel related experiences of last year. I was so surprised at the result… Several of you got in touch saying you wanted to see more of the Burton Swans sculpture trail after not knowing anything about them.

Many of you didn’t even realise that any sculpture trails went ahead last year. Whilst a surprising result, it’s great to see that loads of you must love the trails as much as me. If you’re new to my blog and don’t know me by now, it’s pretty much my all time favourite thing to do. I just love seeing art and sculpture in the landscape and following sculpture trails like this.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to write up a blog about the trail at the time; so as you can no longer actually visit the trail, I’ll just concentrate on showing you images of my favourite designs with a little of what I saw along the route through Burton. But first – a little background about the trail…

Following the Burton Swans Sculpture Trail during Covid-19

The Burton Swans sculpture trail ran for 10 weeks from the 8^th August 2020 in the town of Burton-upon-Trent in the Midlands.

I was truly delighted to learn that this trail was going ahead despite Covid-19 doing its best to really ruin last summer.

Many concerns were raised over whether sculpture trails should go ahead during the pandemic. Worries were that they would encourage people to gather around the sculptures at a time when social distancing was a requirement.

In addition, children particularly love to touch the sculptures and in many cases are encouraged to interact with them. In the case of the Burton Swans you could scribble on the ‘Graffiti Me’ swan, draw on the ‘Blackboard Swan’ or construct Lego on the ‘Build Me Up’ swan. Avoiding touching anything that others may have done was deemed paramount to stopping the spread of Covid-19. As a result, many questioned how trails like this could go ahead safely.

As a result, most trails I knew of were cancelled or postponed until 2021 to avoid these issues; all apart from a mini trail of 10 owls in Nottingham and this 25-strong trail of swans in Burton. I’m hoping we’ll get to enjoy the postponed trails later on this year instead.

In reality I never felt unsafe while following the Burton Swans sculpture trail. Everybody I saw along the trail allowed plenty of space at the sculptures and stayed out of the way till you’d finished taking photos. Add in hand sanitiser after touching any of the sculptures and the experience was the perfect Covid-safe activity – the best part being you were outside in the fresh air, getting exercise whilst experiencing art.

The Swan Sculpture

Unlike the 3D sculptures I’m more familiar with on the many Wild in Art trails I’ve followed over the years, as in the case of the Hoodwinked robins, the Worcester giraffes, the Elmer parades and the Snowman walks, these swan sculptures were really 2D swan shaped boards for the artists to paint. As a result it was very easy to split the sculpture into two obvious sides and produce completely different (though usually complimentary) designs on each side.

Many artists chose to do just that. A great example was the swan situated at the Brewhouse Arts Centre entitled ‘Duet’. She had had completely contrasting designs on each side.

Raising money for YMCA

These types of sculpture trails have many purposes. They encourage people to get outside; to walk and explore the town, locals and tourists alike. As a result it boosts the local economy and inspires pride in the town.

Primarily though the Burton Swans sculpture trail was held to raise money for the Burton and District YMCA. It’s a charity that supports local people in times of need. They provide safe and supportive environments to those who find themselves homeless.

Like other trails I’ve followed, the sculptures were auctioned off at the end of the trail. The Burton swans raised a fantastic £11.5k, with additional funds raised from sales of merchandise.

Burton-Upon-Trent

I’d never been to Burton-Upon-Trent before and knew very little about the town. However after spending 2 days walking the length and breadth of the place, I can say it’s a great town centre with some gorgeous green spots along the river and fascinating places to visit. It is well worth a trip even without the sculpture trail to follow.

The British Capital of Brewing

Before visiting for the Burton Swans sculpture trail, I never realised that Burton was the capital of Britain’s brewing industry. It was once responsible for brewing one quarter of all beer sold in Britain.

While this may no longer be the case these days, the town is still home to many breweries, small and large, as well as the National Brewery Museum. Even the arts centre is named after the industry – the Brewhouse.

Why Swans?

It didn’t take me long to realise why the organisers had chosen a swan as the shape for a sculpture trail in Burton. The town has a long history with swans which you can see by the hundreds on the river by Stapenhill Gardens.

The town signs feature an emblem of the majestic bird and there’s even a large permanent sculpture of a swan in Stapenhill gardens which acts as a planter.

The planter dates from 1953, around the time of the Queen’s coronation. Just a couple of years before however, Whooper and Berwick’s swans were seen on the River Trent in Burton and these possibly inspired the construction of the planter as the shape of the swan’s neck more closely resembles the straight necks of the Whooper or Berwick’s, than the curved ones of our popular resident Mute swans.

The Trail

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Burton, though if I could do the trip over, I would definitely have chosen to drive to some of the sculptures.

I completely underestimated just how far apart many of these sculptures were. Burton is a far bigger place than I thought. The whole trail ran to approximately 12km. I actually had to return a second day to get round them all, as the first day I didn’t get there till early afternoon after a visit to nearby Rosliston Country Park in the morning.

I did however pick an excellent car park to walk the trail from – The Washlands car park alongside the River Trent. The first sculpture I saw: ‘Ripple’ was in this car park and as the southernmost sculpture on the trail I decided it was a good one to start with.

The Riverside Swans

Walking across and up the river from The Washlands car park was certainly a lovely introduction to Burton. Green and pleasant landscaped gardens and attractive meadow lined riverside paths accompany a lovely walk.

This beautiful Victorian bridge links The Washlands to Stapenhill gardens where swans were a plenty. Real life beauties waddled around the famous concrete planter swan and the mosaic ‘Mirror Swan’, with the bright and colourful ‘Thank You Keyworkers’ swan overlooking the fray from the upper gardens.

The ‘Mirror Swan’ was one of my favourites as I’m always drawn to mosaic and in the bright sunlight of 2020’s summer heat-wave; the light glinted and shimmered off the mosaic. Swans multiplied as they walked past as swans reflected in swans.

Over the road footbridge and beyond the church was ‘Summer Dream’, her design a riot of colourful grasses to mimic the grassland where she nested.

At the other end of the river walk opposite the entrance to Stapenhill cemetery was the last swan on the eastern side of the river, suitably called ‘River Swan’ as she depicted families of swans, geese and ducks swimming along the river.

Crossing back over the river, I realised just how extensive the meadows and grasslands of Burton are. Walking around the paths was so laid back and peaceful. Three other swans were positioned amidst these fields, including ‘Climate Change’, ‘King of the River’ and ‘Graffiti Me’.

It took me a few attempts at walking around nearby buildings to locate ‘Build Me Up’ outside Burton Library and ‘Shoal’ outside Meadowside Leisure Centre. I loved the rich aquamarine colour of the latter which incidentally also perfectly matched my dress.

A Note on Locating the Burton Swans

Unfortunately, whilst the illustrated trail maps looked pretty, with illustrations of the buildings or features near to the swan locations, they weren’t at all accurate in pinpointing exact locations. There was no accompanying written list of locations, and as Burton was new to me, I didn’t always recognise places just from those illustrations. Lots of assumptions had to be made.

I’m guessing the phone app would have been more successful in pinpointing locations by GPS, but annoyingly I couldn’t get the app to work on my phone. When it came to finding the swan at Coopers Square shopping centre, I walked around in circles and through all the different entrances before finding it outside the last one I tried. Typical hey! So yes, I was frequently left thinking written locations would have been handy.

It did make the trail feel more like a treasure hunt though where you only get vague clues. Did it feel all the sweeter when you finally found the swan? It probably would have done if I hadn’t have been walking around on such a stiflingly hot day.

Town Centre Swans

The second day I hit the Burton Swans sculpture trail, I parked in the town centre. After spending a bit of time shopping and eventually finding ‘The Brewers Town’ swan at Coopers Square, whose design featured a plumage of barley feathers, it was time to locate the rest of the town swans.

I was a huge fan of the Octagon Centre’s ‘Rubbish Swan’ which was made from lots of bottle tops and jar lids, drawing attention to the important issue of recycling.

‘Round Rainbow’ located by the war memorial in front of Burton and South Derbyshire College reminded me of the rainbow images we’ve seen a lot of lately to thank the NHS and keyworkers.

Another swan which hinted at the current health crisis was the ‘Helping Hands’ swan, situated outside Staffordshire Police Station. The red heart on the swan’s tail stood out against the many white hand and thumb prints that made up the swan’s feathers. Much love is to be found for all the helping hands out there, whatever form it takes. We’re all in this together after all.

There were several other swans that depicted feathers in different ways including ‘Black Diamond’ by the National Brewery Centre and the rather cheerful looking ‘Carousel’ outside Sainsbury’s.

A more unusual design was the ‘Flapping Swan’ on Station Street. The central part of the swan’s body had been carved out and cut into cubes. These were then hung in lines filling in the gap so they spun around. I’m assuming the idea was as the cubes moved it made the wings look like they were flapping.

I loved the idea behind the ‘Blackboard Swan’ outside the Market Hall. I believe the organisers regularly washed it down for more people to leave their messages. Question is: can you see my contribution amongst the scribbles?

A Few Stragglers

Finally it was time to wrap up the outliers. It was a heck of a yomp up to the town hall via the railway station though. I’ve never known a town hall not to be in the centre of a town. Railway stations are often on the edges or to one side due to infrastructure requirements, but I’ve never known the town hall be further out beyond a station.

Well, Burton sure broke the mould on town planning. It was easily ¾ mile walk out to the town hall from the central shopping centre, though in the heat of the day it seemed a lot further. However it was worth it to see the town hall swan. Called ‘Tranquility’, it featured a gorgeous black and white design and it possibly came with my favourite backdrop – set against the beautiful town hall building.

Stumbling across The Last Heretic pub on the route was a godsend to break up the trek. Advertised outside as Burton’s newest micro pub, this was where I chose to sit and Google Burton’s history with beer. It was such a shame that due to Covid-19 the Brewery Centre wasn’t open, as that would have been a fascinating place to visit. I’ll just have to go back in the future.

The last swan I encountered and another of my favourites was positioned at the fire station. ‘The Bird and the Bees’ was decorated with a honeycomb pattern and lots of bees and flowers. A bee theme is a popular one for sculpture trails and I think there’s been a bee design on all the trails I’ve seen so far.

Get in Touch…

So, there we have it – I had a fantastic couple of days exploring Burton-Upon-Trent where for the most part I forgot we were in the middle of a pandemic. Lots of folk were out enjoying the sun and partaking in the sculpture trail and it just felt great! The Burton Swans sculpture trail provided a much needed ray of light and thread of normality through a time filled with uncertainty, sacrifice and sorrow. Thank you Team Swan for making it happen!

Did you get to see the 2020 Burton Swans? Which was your favourite? Drop me a line in the comments below and let me know. Here’s hoping we’ll have plenty more trails to follow in 2021!

Further Reading:

If like me you’re a sculpture trail nut, you might want to check out these other trails here.

The Hoodwinked robins in Nottingham

Let’s Go Quackers ducks in Ironbridge, Shropshire

Worcester Stand Tall giraffes in Worcester

The Elmer Parade in Ipswich, Suffolk

The Snowman Walks in Salford, Middlesbrough and London

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