‘Crazy’ Brit’s secret ‘Little Italy’ labyrinth rediscovered hidden in garden
An amazing ‘little Italy’ with around 200 statues, buildings and other pieces of art has been rediscovered in an unkempt garden in Wales.
Mark Bourne and wife Muriel created the site as a shrine to Italian architecture, on the outskirts of Corris, between Dolgellau and Machynlleth.
Around 200 “objects” have been unearthed – not just buildings but statues, plaques and curios as well. Before conservation work began, a few years ago, only around 30 structures were known, the Mirror reported.
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“Every time I pulled away more ivy, I thought, bloody hell, there’s another one,” said Jonathan Fell, the site’s curator.
(Image: Ddraig Wen/Daily Post Wales)
“I absolutely love this place,” said Jonathan. “I don’t like to call it folk art because it’s much more than that. It’s such an important site, one of the most important in Wales.”
Old materials, from wash boilers to hub caps, were recycled to provide structure, then encased in moulded chicken wire ready for concreting.
The designer of the little buildings would disappear off to Italy for weeks at a time, returning home with sketchbooks full of architectural drawings to inspire his next build.
Over 25 years, Mr Bourne carted thousands of buckets of water and ballast from the Afon Deri in the valley below, to be mixed with concrete to make mortar.
(Image: Ddraig Wen/Daily Post Wales)
An underpowered Datsun 4×4 and trailer did some of the heavy lifting but, for the final stretch, up though the garden, muscle and brawn was needed.
“This guy spent 25 years carrying hundreds of tonnes of concrete, water and ballast up a hillside with a slope that ranges from 30 to 45 degrees,” said Jonathan.
In an attempt to safeguard the cottage and gardens, the site was placed in a trust prior to the Covid pandemic. Its trustee is Richard Withers, who persuaded family friend Mr Fell to co-ordinate the rescue of a place known locally “Mark’s Folly” – because people in the village thought him “crazy”.
“There are hundreds of objects there – at least 200 – and there still might be more to be found,” sighed Jonathan. “But I pretty confident we’ve found most of what he built. At least 95% of the garden has now been uncovered.
Besides replicas of Italian landmarks, more than a third of the site is comprised of Renaissance architecture of unknown provenance.
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