POPULAR Teignmouth artist Laura Wall, who took part in this year’s Moor Otter Arts Trail, has announced her otter raised the most in an online auction.

Her Teigny and Tiny Otter, inspired by the Templer Way, was sold for £3,200.

The sale of the Moor Otter Arts Trail sculptures has raised a total of £69,330.

Sir Andrew Ridgway and Lady Valerie Ridgway had the winning bid on Laura’s otter ‘Teigny and Tiny’.

The money raised from the project goes to conservation and access projects on Dartmoor.

Laura explained: ‘The name Teigny and Tiny was decided by the public on my social media channels ahead of it going to auction.

‘It is inspired by the Templar Way, the historic route which connects Teignmouth and Haytor.

‘I painted the otter back in January 2020 - in fact she came all the way to the South of France where I spent six weeks having a painting holiday with my husband and my dog.

‘We drove to France and the otter was sat on the back seat-it was a funny sight.

‘I really wanted to create something that celebrates our beautiful area, which I am so passionate about.

‘It seemed only right that with the 200th anniversary of the Templer Way that I use this as inspiration to create a montage of elements that can be found along this route from Teignmouth to Haytor.

‘When I discovered my otter would be hosted at Dartmoor Zoo I wanted to incorporate something that linked my otter to the Zoo and decided to hide the mischievous lynx that went missing in 2016 from Dartmoor Zoo.

‘At the base of the otter there are many references to Teignmouth where The Templer Way ends and where my art gallery and I am based.’

Moving up through the otter merges into the countryside where there are wild meadows, an orchard, a tractor, a buzzard soaring, butterflies, bumblebees and cows.

Then lastly at the top of the otter is Haytor rising up from the moors, where the Templer Way begins.

The otter and cub sculptures, all decorated by artists and creatives in a variety of colours and themes, captured the imagination of thousands when they were let loose across the National Park and further afield this summer.

The trail finally got underway in May 2021, having been postponed from its 2020 date due to the pandemic.

Eighty-one otter and cubs, standing tall on plinths, were unleashed on five different trails and scores of loyal ‘otter spotters’ searched to find them.

Many people made donations along the way at each sculpture or online.

A collection of 56 otters were auctioned online by The Saleroom and a special romp of 25 ‘golden otters’ were auctioned at a live event by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood in Exeter.

The live auction raised £25,980 while the online auction raised £31,990.