The Taggart family at Billown Farm have been delighting the public since 2014 with their colourful Minion displays.

Geoff Taggart and his brother, Eric, have farmed together at Billown for 50 years, with beef cattle and dairy, but this very unusual diversification was prompted when Eric’s grandson, Tom, then aged three, asked him: ’Can you make me a Minion?’

Undaunted by the request Eric agreed.

They chose as the site one of their fields near Cross Fourways in Ballasalla which the brothers reckon has seen everything on it over the years, from grass and potatoes to cabbages and maize.

Using large, painted straw bales as the base, Eric attached old tyres, pipes and other bits and pieces from round the farm and came up with a clearly recognisable ’Minion’.

However then other members of the family thought they could do better. ’We ended up with about five of them,’ says his daughter, Alison Coates.

It was when they noticed how many people were stopping and going into the field for a look that they decided to use the display to aid a good cause.

Alison explains: ’We initially raised money for the Special Care Baby Unit because my brother Neil’s twins, Oscar and Findlay, were born premature and were being cared for in there at the time.’

The next year they followed up with a display of ’Angry Birds’ and since then they have done Peppa Pig, Father Christmas and Frankenstein.

Last year the field was used for a potato crop but this year they have come back with a bang with a display which includes a pen of sheep, a bumble bee and, this year’s favourite, ’Hettie the Hoover’.

This year Geoff’s grandson, Cal, found a paint sprayer and used it to great effect on the Minons while Hettie and Peppa Pig are covered in coloured bale wrap. And still the people are flocking to look and take pictures of their children sitting on the displays.

Donations will go to the Agricultural Benevolent Trust.

Alison says: ’Now we just do it because people enjoy it. If people want to put something in the tin they can but it’s just for the fun of it. Hopefully we can continue to do it.’

It has been suggested the Hungry Caterpillar would be a good subject for next yearâ?¦