Bayeux Tapestry copy could sell with £1m reserve

The extreme embroidery project will take around 11 years to complete

A woman who has spent eight years making a full-size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry says she is hoping to auction the finished article, with a reserve of £1m.

Mia Hansson has just passed the 47-metre mark of the 68-metre (224ft) artwork, which depicts events leading up to the Norman Conquest of 1066.

The trained teacher, 47, from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, said she had dissected every inch of the 11th Century masterpiece to faithfully recreate it.

Ms Hansson said she would publicly display her work-in-progress one final time before completion, because, she said: "It is now just too valuable to risk getting coffee spilled on."

Ms Hansson says she uses specialist books to make sure every detail on her replica is authentic

"I wanted a project that would keep me occupied for a minimum of 10 years," says Ms Hansson.

She learned to sew from her grandmother when she was about four and had been hooked ever since, she said.

In 2001 she started making Viking re-enactment clothes, but a pause in orders led her to consider a longer-term project.

'Pick up the pace'

The original 58-scene Bayeux Tapestry - on display at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in France - tells the story of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, with William, Duke of Normandy, challenging King Harold II and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.

"When I started it in 2016 I was doing seven to 10 hours a day, but as I am renovating a house and have dogs to look after, I have gone down to three hours," said Ms Hansson.

"I will seriously need to pick up the pace to get it done by 2027, which is the millennium anniversary of [the birth of] William the Conqueror, so it will tie in nicely."

Ms Hansson says her unfinished replica will go on display for the last time before its 2027 completion at St Peter's Church Hall in Wisbech on 4 October

Ms Hansson said she would sell the replica once completed, adding: "I have had an offer of £100,000, but really that is not enough, I will be looking at a reserve of £1m with a specialist auction house."

Ms Hansson says she is only going to put it on public display one more time before it is finished, because it is "just too valuable".

"I have shown it at Women's Institutes and it worries me to death if people are wandering around near it with a coffee and a biscuit, my replica wouldn't fit in the washing machine".

The unfinished replica tapestry will go on display for the final time before completion at St Peter's Church Hall in Wisbech on 4 October.