WHAT do Kate Bush, King Kong and Harry Potter have in common? They’ve all been greeting passing motorists for this year’s Bisterne Scarecrow Festival.
Back for its 19th year, the annual festival sees residents in the village of Bisterne near Ringwood decorate the outside of their homes or roadside verges with a colourful array of homemade straw-filled sculptures for two weeks.
The scarecrows are most visible when travelling through the village via the B3347 Ringwood Road.
Up 50 scarecrows, sculptures or scenes have been crafted for this year’s event which, like previous iterations, is done to raise money for the upkeep and running of the Bisterne Village Hall.
Among the best scarecrows this year include King Kong standing atop a model Empire State Building, a levitating Mary Poppins, the Three Little Pigs being pursued by the Big Bad Wolf, and even a tribute to the late Bernard Cribbins.
This year’s scarecrows were first displayed on Sunday, August 14 and will be in place until the festival ends on Monday, August 29.
£1 maps with location markers for all the exhibits are available from Café Velo in Ringwood, Dragon Cottages in Bisterne, the Ringwood Road Texaco garage, Tyrrell's Ford Country Inn, Ringwood’s Gateway building and the Crow Farm Shop.
Passers-by can vote for their favourite by posting a piece of paper with its description through a box outside Bisterne Village Hall.
Following the end of the festival, the scarecrows usually go on display at Ringwood Carnival which takes place this year on Saturday, September 17.
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