Cambridge is well known for it’s breathtaking architecture, cobbled streets, and punts gliding along the river. The beautiful, historic buildings that form the ancient heart of the city centre have been built by kings, queens, bishops and scholars. For their summer season of events Grand Arcade shopping centre invited along our sand sculpting architects and builders Jamie and Mark to create replicas of some of the most intricate and iconic buildings in this seat of learning.
They chose two of the most famous buildings in Cambridge for their table top sand sculptures – Kings College and the Bridge of Sighs. Kings College was built over a hundred year period and the reign of four kings including Richard III and Henry VIII. The Bridge of Sighs is named after the bridge in Venice and is a covered bridge over the river Cam. Instead of Venetian gondoliers singing ‘O Sole Mio’, in Cambridge you can hire a punt and lay back as you drift past all the architectural wonders of this ancient city. We even added a little sand punt to the sand sculpture.
The replica sand sculptures were created over two very long days, working throughout the shopping day and continuing long after the shops had closed. It was great for our professional sand sculptors to chat with passersby as they worked during the day but after hours they were able to get their heads down and concentrate on replicating the ornate windows and towering spires.
It was a lot of hard work making such exact models, but we think you will agree the effort was worth it. The Bridge of Sighs arches over a rainbow as a thank you to the NHS workers of Cambridge who have worked even harder ever since the Coronavirus pandemic began.
The sand sculptures will stay in the shopping mall for the rest of summer. We custom made plinths for each of the sculptures and they were covered with black fabric, they can also be dressed with branded boards.
Everybody at Grand Arcade was very welcoming and helpful – Julie at Grand Arcade and the security staff made getting the sand in and setting up very easy. Even the shops gave our sand artists support in the form of free doughnuts and ice cream!
Sunday night was spent with the security guards watching the final of the UEFA European football championships between England and Italy whilst Jamie and Mark finished the sand sculptures. Sadly England lost on penalties, and the delay in streaming the match meant that the final result came in over the security guards radios minutes before it reached the screens of their phones!
