Queen Elizabeth II: Feltwell farmer does field tribute

A gigantic tribute to Queen Elizabeth has appeared on acres of land near Sandringham, as a young farmer's way of remembering a "true countrywoman".

Jonny Storey, 21, cultivated a stubble field on his family's farm at Feltwell in Norfolk with the late Queen's cypher of EIIR, Elizabeth II Regina.

He said he was moved to create it by the sense of a "great loss".

"She was the heart of the country... it felt only right to produce a fitting tribute for her," said Mr Storey.

The farmer, whose family has owned Manor Farm for more than 100 years, said he had spent five hours working the soil on the harvested wheat field on Monday to make the memorial.

Mr Storey said the huge letters were designed to cover most of the 20-acre (8ha) field, with the adjacent tractor left looking like "a dot on the land" in the aerial images captured by drone.

"It was my way of thanking the Queen about being so passionate about the countryside," he said.

"She was a true countrywoman, with Sandringham just 20 minutes up the road.

"I didn't think there was any other way to better show our appreciation as farmers than to write that in one of our fields."

The perfectly-spaced letters and straight lines were achieved due to Mr Storey programming his tractor's GPS navigation system, before hitching a stubble cultivator to the vehicle.

The cultivator then lifted the soil to achieve the different colours in the field - which prepares the seed bed for the next crop and gets rid of any weeds.

Mr Storey said he wanted to create the memorial because Queen Elizabeth had also reminded him of his own grandmother, who is 92 and had met the monarch twice through her husband's work as a GP in the Thetford area.

"There's a picture in one of our bedrooms, which has got her and nanna in it, and you can't really tell who's who," he said.

"The Queen and my nanna being a very similar age and, in my opinion, very similar people - nanna is very proper. I thought, everyone's not around forever, so what better way than to make something that big and noticeable in the countryside."

Mr Storey said he and his friend, drone operator Gareth Waite, had been "amazed" by how clear the tribute had turned out.

Although it cannot be viewed from the ground, he said the memorial would be left for a week so anyone flying over could also appreciate it.

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