Adrian Gray is a professional stone balancer. He started placing different shaped rocks precariously on top of each other one day because he wanted “to make a beautiful family group of stones”.

That was more than eight years ago, and he has since constructed all manner of impossible looking sculptures on the Dorset shoreline near his home.

“I realised that stones would balance in a really strange way,” he explained. “People come up to me and ask if I’ve stuck the stones down with blue tack or glue. Then I simply lift off the top stone and they look astonished.”

This gravity-defying technique has led to Gray’s sculptures being exhibited in local galleries and he has been invited to bring a bit of stone balancing to an Apostrophe café in London’s Baker Street this afternoon.