Man ends sign joke worth almost US$31k at Llandegley Airport after 20 years
The made-up airport has an online following and is popular among locals (BBC)
After 20 years, a guy in mid-Wales who spent £25,000 (US$ 30679.62) on a fake airport sign is ending the joke. A Llandegley International billboard has been a well-known sight close to the Powys community for the past 20 years. Although it appears to be a regular road sign, it directs drivers to an airport that doesn't actually exist. The owner made the decision to remove the sign after paying thousands of pounds to build and maintain it. Since 2002, there has been a sign pointing cars to Terminals oneand threeat Llandegley International Airport along the A44 between Rhayader and Kington.
But if you follow the directions and go the two and a half miles, you will arrive in a field outside the Powys village of Llandegley, not an airport or even an airfield.
The person behind it, Nicholas Whitehead, is a journalist who formerly partnered with Terry Jones of Monty Python and edited the Brecon and Radnor Express' Radnor edition.
He said: "It started off as a wild conversation with friends one evening in Llandegley to BBC.
"We thought of renting a sign for something that wasn't really there, possibly a project that didn't exist, and we settled on the airport.
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"It started off as a bit of a joke, then we realised it was actually possible. It was made by Wrexham Signs, given the OK, one thing led to another and there it is."
Whitehead added "as a journalist, whatever you do, someone, somewhere, is going to get upset about it". However, it appears that both residents and visitors like this specific joke.
Now, Whitehead plans to begin an initiative to get the odd institution he established recognised by the government. With a sizable internet following and a lot of local support, Llandegley International may yet have a long way to go.
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