High above the Salisbury Plains, one of the biggest pieces of New Zealand graffiti in the world overlooks an army base. The Bulford Kiwi.
Image: Courtesy of Kate at Slow Travel – she wrote an excellent blogspot about the Bulford Kiwi pre-viewing spot.
Forget the Westbury White Horse in Oxfordshire or the Cerne Abbas Giant over Dorset both cut into the hillsides by the Celts (possibly dating back to 500BC) as pagan worship to their gods; a giant Kiwi was dug into the rolling hills above Bulford Army base just after World War One and attracts curious locals and crazy visitors to this day.
Much more interesting, no?
My only regret is that when we visited my phone was terrible, and I hadn’t thought to bring my camera – what a wally.
Located just outside Bulford and a short distance from the busy A303 (take Solstice Park Services junction), the landmark is on the hillside to the right of Tidworth Rd. We’d recommend initially driving across the military training area to the left of Tidworth Rd and viewing it from a distance, then moving on to park at the end of Gaza Road, taking the footpath up to the Kiwi.
As a birthday surprise, my Mr Kiwi organised for us to spend a weekend in Salisbury – somewhere that I had visited a decade or more ago PB (pre-blogging) – so that we could explore the 130-meter tall chalk edifice.
That’s real romance for you!
I genuinely love this country more and more with each passing week, especially when we go on crazy trips out of London and find ourselves breathing in the fresh, sharp air of the Salisbury Plains.
Can you see the curve of the Kiwi‘s back?
Kiwis are our native bird – around the size of a pudgy pussycat, they can’t fly but have long beaks perfect for forest floor fossicking. As this particular kiwi is so big – his body is 6,100 square meters – it’s a little hard to appreciate properly up close. This is his eye and his beak running along the fence (150 feet (46 m) long)…
…and at his feet the letters “N.Z.” are 65 feet (20 m) high.
The Kiwi was constructed on Beacon Hill overlooking Sling Camp (now gone), part of Bulford Camp, during the occupation of the Camp by New Zealand troops, which began in June 1916.
After the war was over, the troops were eager to return home, but no troop ships were available. In the wake of riots by disaffected New Zealanders, officers decided that the troops should be kept busy carving an enormous kiwi into the chalk of the hill. The Canterbury and Otago Engineers Battalions did this from February to March 1919.
You can take the girl out of London…
When you go, I’d definitely recommend driving there – it’ll be a hop, skip and a jump from Stonehenge – and apparently, you can see the Kiwi in the distance from Stonehenge and Woodhenge, if at a distorted angle. We did get a cab from the train station to the site of the Kiwi and walked the 10-minute uphill path – but we were lucky to get a cabbie that had serve in the forces nearby so knew about it.