Late villager's topiary teapot remains hot topic

The topiary teapot in Tydd St Mary remains a hot topic of discussion on social media

The daughter of a much-loved villager known for his quirky topiary said he would be thrilled people were "still talking about his work and raising smiles" four years after his death.

Among the late David Bays' creations in the Fenland village of Tydd St Mary are a giant teapot, cup and kettle, and even a shrub version of his neighbours.

His daughter, Rachel Bays, said her dad started topiary about 20 years ago when he retired from the printing industry and was "always very arty".

Mr Bays' wife, Janet, said the hedges continued to be maintained by her son-in-law and remained the talk of the area – including on social media.

David Bays, who died in 2020, developed a love for topiary when he retired in the early 2000s

Janet, 92, still lives in the village on the Lincolnshire-Cambridgeshire border near Wisbech and said her husband would often see a "shape in a hedge", which would trigger an idea.

"It'd be around 20 years since he made his first one, which was the famous teapot that people know locally as a landmark," she said.

"He made one of a giant teacup and another of a couple who lived across the road.

"David didn't have any specialist tools - just sharp shears and a keen eye."

Anyone for another drop? David Bays' giant teacup sits in the couple's garden

Rachel, 56, said: "He would see shapes in hedges that I couldn't see - a bit like cloud-gazing with certain patterns forming.

"He would love the fact that people are still talking about his work and raising smiles."

Rachel Bays (right), pictured with her mother and father, said her dad would be delighted his creations continued to be talked about

Neighbour Ellen Beeton, 83, said her husband, also called David, died last year, but the couple still existed together in topiary form after they were carved out of a hedge 10 years ago.

"We couldn't believe it when Mr Bays started working on an image of me and my husband," she said.

"He told us it was going to be a horse, but he couldn't get the legs right, so he made it into us.

Neighbour Ellen Beeton has been immortalised in topiary, holding hands with her late husband David

"It's quite nice, really. He put us in a place where we appear to be looking towards our own house from his back garden.

"I can see us from my bedroom window - it brings back lovely memories.

"We did used to hold hands, and that's how we look as topiary."

Ellen Beeton, pictured with her late husband David, said it was lovely to look at the topiary sculpture of them both in their neighbour's garden

Alan Wheeldon, 74, chair of the Wisbech in Bloom group that has won multiple gold awards, said: "I love topiary because it brings architecture and structure to our gardens. It gives us gardeners a chance to show our artistic bent and inject humour into everyday hedges that would otherwise be a bit dull.

"The wonderful topiary teapot in Tydd never fails to make me smile and it would not look out of place at our own Georgian masterpiece - Peckover House in Wisbech - which has some fine examples of the art."