Animated favourites Wallace and Gromit have tempted Angus ‘Balesy’ Fleur Baxter out of a short-lived retirement.
The artistic farmer previously hinted she was giving up the straw bale painting which raised many thousands of pounds for charity.
But Fleur picked up her spray tins for a festive hurrah to herald the Christmas Day release of a new Wallace and Gromit adventure.
And she hopes the rural roadside display will also keep the cash rolling in for motor neurone research and Doddie Aid.
In September, Fleur said a combination of factors had prompted the decision to stop.
But she revealed: “I didn’t do any bale commissions for Christmas, but I just really missed it.
“So with the new Wallace and Gromit feature coming out I decided to do four characters from that.”
The brightly-coloured bales are in a field beside the B9128 Carnoustie to Forfar road, near Crombie crossroads.
They’ll stay on show until after the cheese-loving inventor and his best friend hit the small screen on Christmas Day in the BBC premiere of Vengeance Most Fowl.
Doddie Aid idea behind straw bales display
And Fleur also hopes it’ll spark a My Name’5 Doddie resolution for 2025.
“I’ve tied it in to try and encourage people to sign up for Doddie Aid in January,” added Fleur.
The motor neurone disease charity will be starting its exercise challenge in January.
People donate £20 to sign up, select a nation to represent and log their exercise miles.
You can register for the fundraiser at doddieaid.com/how-to-join
“I added a little bit of Doddie tartan to each of the characters. Hopefully people will think about taking part in Doddie Aid, or making a donation.”
Toy Story, Pooh Bear, Desperate Dan, Minnie the Minx, The Avengers and a host of others characters featured on Fleur’s bales down the years.
In 2022, she recreated the famous image of the Queen and Paddington Bear holding hands.
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