Stunning Tour of Britain logo etched into field

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Notts NFU member and council delegate John Charles-Jones has captured the spirit of the OVO Tour of Britain by cultivating its image - a cyclist in full flow - into a fallow field right next to where racers will tear past on Saturday 8 September.

Elite competitors from across the world will shoot by the striking logo at Woodborough Park Farm - with hopes high that the famous Tour of Britain helicopter will broadcast the image into homes of cycling fans.

Read more: Westminster joins NFU to celebrate Back British Farming

"When I first heard that the race was coming past the farm - and I'm not a cyclist at all myself - I just thought what a great opportunity it would be, particularly after Des Allen's sheep-inspired art last year, to create some land art," said John.

"The original idea was to plant the logo into a field but trying to get hold of the necessary machinery, which has to be GPS-controlled, was difficult. That was coupled with the ground being so dry that anything we would have sowed last month wouldn't have germinated.

"So instead we've just created the Tour of Britain logo by cultivating it into a fallow field.

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John surveys the scene as a BBC drone beams back a bird's eye view of the logo

"Somebody wrote the programme, someone else helped me mark it out on the ground with GPS equipment and then I've just cultivated it by following the lines. It took three weeks to organise but didn't take more than a couple of hours to actually do it."

BBC News Online reporter Caroline Lowbridge visited John's farm near Nottingham just days before the race hits Woodborough armed with a drone, allowing her to get a bird's eye view of the image and showing John what the helicopters will capture on the big day.

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John being interviewed by the BBC with his farm in the background

"Having seen the drone footage, it looks a lot better than I feared it would because the contrast between a fallow field and cultivated ground is fairly slight," said John.

"It's just a shame nobody on the ground will see it on race day - let's hope the helicopter picks it up!"

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The drone captured this stunning image of John's land art (Image: BBC)

Tour organisers launched a national competition for the best and most eye-catching land art along the route of this year’s race, inspired by the efforts of Notts residents last year.

Among them was farmer Des Allen, whose sheep formed a huge, moving bicycle in a field next to the race route, coverage of which went viral on social media.