Cardiff dad makes car hedge for his son

Cardiff dad makes car hedge for his son

This topiary shaped like a car has taken 10 years of fine tuning and could certainly be described as a green machine.

The traffic-stopping hedge art is Faiz Belal's tribute to his son's love of all things four-wheeled.

Mr Belal, a part-time taxi driver and clinical hypnotherapist, decided to carve the creation outside his house on the Taff Embankment, Cardiff, when his son was aged four.

For more than 10 years, Mr Belal has continued to trim and re-design the hedge in an attempt to bring some joy to the local area with his shearing skills.

Faiz Belal, a part-time taxi driver and clinical hypnotherapist, decided to carve the creation outside his house on the Taff Embankment, Cardiff, when his son was aged four

For more than 10 years, Mr Belal has continued to trim and re-design the hedge in an attempt to bring some joy to the local area with his shearing skills

Mr Belal, 50, said: 'When my son Nyaz was little, he really liked the cars.

'So I thought let's give the hedge in the front some shape. I left it for a little while, but after that it was a Sierra and then a BMW. But then this time I decided to put the driver in there as well.'

Although the hedge is finely pruned now, it was a tricky start.

'I'm not a gardener or anything like that. Initially it was hard, because you might cut one twig and put a dent in your car.'

'I just enjoy doing it. It makes me happy when I see the youngsters looking at it and then they get happy.

'You hear them say, "Look Mum - it's a car!" Even the grown-ups like it too.

'Sometimes when my friends go past they'll say your car needs a jet wash, meaning it needs a bit of a trim.'

The father-of-two said it took him around four hours to finish his creation in its current form.

'Sometimes when it's dark outside, I can see flashing lights and I think it's a police car going by, but it's just someone taking a picture,' Mr Belal said

It often draws admiration from passers-by as people head into the city - which Faiz said he was proud to call home after moving to the capital from London.

He said: 'We do get a lot of people stopping to take some pictures of it. I've even had a paramedic stop to take a picture.

'Sometimes when it's dark outside, I can see flashing lights and I think it's a police car going by, but it's just someone taking a picture.'

Mr Belal's artwork is not the only unusual and artistic topiary in the city. One Twitter user recently posted a picture of a bush near Roath Park resembling a man complete with a moustache. 

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