Museum unveils long-eared tourist attraction

Visitors to The Oxfordshire Museum welcomed a colourful new addition at the launch of a popular annual tourist attraction.

The Cotswold Hare Trail features more than 50 five-foot hare sculptures installed at galleries, hotels and other public spaces across the Cotswolds. The hand-painted and decorated objects are aimed at attracting visitors to the area, and encouraging some Easter-themed fun.

The Oxfordshire Museum and Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, based in Woodstock, unveiled their very own hare sculpture last Wednesday (22 March) in front of around 300 visitors including local families, businesses and other guests. The venue is now among the destinations for tourists keen to ‘bag’ the full set of long-eared lollopers.

The museums’ hare is being sponsored by the National Theatre, and to mark the occasion, visitors were treated to an appearance from Joey - the puppet star of the War Horse production showing later this year at the Oxford New Theatre. Special guest Toyah Wilcox also dropped in to add some star quality.

Popular attraction

Audience Development Officer at the Oxfordshire Museum, Lorraine Horne said: “It was a fantastic event and luckily the sun came out just in time for the unveiling. It was great to have so many people come along to support the initiative – quite a few of whom hadn’t been to the museum before and took the opportunity to have a good look round.

"We’re very excited to be a part of the Cotswold Hare Trail and our newly installed attraction is already proving popular with visitors.”

The Cotswold Hare Trail is organised by the Cirencester March Hare Festival team.