Audi cropping up in the country

Crop circles are a unique symbol of mystery and imagination that offer unique perspectives on everyday ideas. The Audi A4 allroad quattro takes innovation to a similar level, so it was only fitting that it should be the vehicle to take us on a crop circle adventure of our own.

The A4 allroad quattro offers a raised ride height of 34mm over the standard A4 Avant, and the quattro® permanent all-wheel drive system provides driving dynamics unlike any other off-road vehicle. Explore the A4’s incredible attributes in more detail at Jardine Motors Audi, or book a test drive to experience the gravity-defying drive for yourself.

The sun sinks low over the horizon as the A4 allroad quattro takes us deep into rural Wiltshire, and we all brace ourselves as we encounter a particularly large pothole. The smooth wheels of the A4 barely shudder, and we pass over the road as if it was freshly laid. We’re on the way to Wick Farm in Wiltshire, where owner and farmer Will Dickson has given his permission for us to create a rather special crop circle of our own.

Helping us to visualise our dream is artist Julian Richardson, our creative lead, and Matthew Williams, a crop circle researcher and founder of Circlemakers TV. ‘Intricate crop circles are becoming quite a rare sight,’ Matthew says. ‘But in the 1980s they captured the imagination of the era.’

Julian marks the design out meticulously in the field of undisturbed wheat. He marks one of the team to act as an anchor while he paces precise lengths and places circle-shaped markers at regular points. Sketching an outline by flattening a thin line with his feet, he warns the rest of us to tread carefully: ‘You want it to look as pristine as possible, so it looks like it could only have been accessed from the sky.’

Once the outline is complete we work through the night to create the design, treading down on large wooden boards with rope handles to fully flatten the wheat. It’s impossible to tell what the design looks like from the ground. Instead, we fly a drone with a camera high above the trees to capture the scene from above. Crowded around the screen connected to the camera, we watch as the trees disappear, revealing the iconic four rings proudly etched into the countryside. A job well done.