Holy Cow! Harvest comes to Fleet Street church via a life-sized fibreglass cow!

A lifesized fibreglass cow, painted by London artist Jenny Leonard, is residing in the courtyard of St Bride’s Church, just off Fleet Street for the next fortnight. ‘Moo Holland’ is a member of the Surrey CowParade, a public art exhibition raising money for charitable causes and community projects.

Members of the public are encouraged to visit Moo Holland and celebrate harvest time by taking photos with her outside St Bride’s. The rest of the exhibitionist herd of painted cows can be found using the Surrey CowParade app, available on App Store for free.

Moo Holland’s vital statistics are 84″ long, 29″ wide and 48″ high, with a 83″ girth. She was brought to life by artist Jenny Leonard who painted her to depict an iconic countryside at harvest, which coincides with the timing of the Surrey CowParade exhibition. Her design includes fields of golden corn and trees plus a fleet of tractors and combine harvesters similar to those of her sponsor New Holland Agriculture, a farm machinery manufacturer which builds tractors in Basildon, Essex.

The artist was selected for her experience in painting animal sculptures for public art trails, some of which have appeared in London in previous years. A time-lapse video showing Jenny painting Moo Holland can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/mWk4djWBOwk

The painted cow was unveiled at the beginning of August at Countryfile Live, a new event based on the popular BBC television programme and which took place at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Moo Holland was pictured posing with BBC Countryfile presenter Ellie Harrison along with hundreds of families who were visiting the event to get a taste of the countryside.

When the art exhibition ends, cows from the Surrey CowParade will be auctioned-off for charity. Proceeds will be split between the sponsor’s chosen charity and Surrey CowParade’s Surrey Hills Trust Fund. New Holland is supporting farming charity Addington Fund and money raised will provide much-needed funds to help farmers in England and Wales. The charity was among those who helped farmers affected by flooding on the Somerset Levels in 2014 and in northern England in December 2015.

Talking about Moo Holland’s trip to London, Sara Sebastianelli, Brand Communications at New Holland Agriculture UK and Ireland says: “We’re proud to be bringing the countryside to London and releasing Moo Holland into the city. Londoners will be able find her at St Bride’s Church beside the world-famous Fleet Street, and admire the beautiful countryside-inspired artwork created by Jenny. Moo Holland loves a selfie and we hope that people will share snaps taken with her using the hashtag #MooHolland so we can see all of her new friends.”