Personally, I will not rest until every model village in Britain is catalogued on Nothing To See Here. So here's another: Corfe Castle Model Village on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. The remarkable thing about this is that it's a faithful recreation of the real village of Corfe Castle. So as you walk down the miniature main street it's fun to figure out where you are, in the real world, as it were. The best bit is that one of the miniature houses has a model of the model village in its model back garden. For a moment I thought I would look into the model model village and see a tiny version of myself looking at an even smaller model and so on, into infinity but that’s a bit much to ask. The miniature village itself is quite an achievement without playing with space and time.

Opened in 1966 and built to 1/20 scale, the model village shows how the rather imposing Corfe Castle would have looked like in 1646, before it was destroyed by Cromwell's armies. The model castle, built on a manmade mound, contrasts nicely with the actual size one, which sits on a hill nearby. Both are very imposing and dominate the landscape around them. The detail, as with all model villages, is staggering. It must have seemed like a great idea, but taking two whole years to build, it’s amazing the novelty didn’t wear off before it was finished. Most people don’t have the patience to finish a model aeroplane, never mind build something of this scale.

The village was the brainchild of Eddie Holland, a local businessman. Many of the houses were built by Jack Phillips, a local builder who made genuine Purbeck stone roofs with teeny tiny tiles. As well as the village, there is a larger scale "village punishment area for scoundrels" with stocks and pillories (I didn't know the difference before I visited - there you go, it's educational). And to confuse matters even further there are some outsize games - a giant chess set and some huge Connect 4.

If you want to bide a wee, there's a cafe with a nice terrace outside. We were so enthused that we walked up to the real castle. Visiting the model acts as a nice introduction. I felt more connected to it as a historical artefact, with a better mental picture of how it would have been in its heyday. The strange thing is that once you get up that enormous hill, the real village looks just like a model. Deja vu or what?

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Posted by Anne on January 31, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just off the A198 east of North Berwick, Seacliff is a little hidden gem. On the north side of the beach is a sheltered spot containing Seacliff Harbour, said to be the smallest in the UK. It's only 12 metres at its widest point, and 2 metres across at the entrance. The lobster pots around the entrance show that it's still working away, used by one local crab fisherman as there's only room for one boat.

The harbour was created in 1890 by the Laird Andrew Laidley, who blasted it out of the red sandstone, known locally as The Gegan, using steam engine and compressed air. Being small has its advantages. The harbour’s secret location away from the shoreline means that it never dries out. On the downside, the Secret Garden, the boat that calls it home is moored on a system of pulleys and weights to make sure it doesn’t bang off the sides.

Round and about there are more sights to see. The beach, popular with walkers and picnickers, has near perfect sandcastle building sand. Out to sea, a stone marker marks a crop of rocks known as St Baldred’s Boat. I have no idea what this is all about, only that is it named after the evangelist and hermit St Baldred who was sent by St Mungo to spread Christianity to the Lothians. You will also get some good views of Bass Rock, the world’s largest rock gannet colony, and Tantallon Castle from here, so it's a good place to come if you want to see the castle but save yourself the entrance fee!

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Posted by Emma on January 20, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Slightly off the beaten tourist track is the small New Zealand town of Inglewood, in the province of Taranaki. It’s a popular destination for youngsters of all ages who appreciate toys with oodles of character, because this is the home of the quaintly-named Fun Ho! National Toy Museum. The building in the centre of town is easy to spot – it’s the one with a fire engine parked on the roof. The vehicle’s complement of firefighters sit bolt upright, immobile but alert, ready for the call of duty.

The museum presents the complete history of the locally-produced Fun Ho! brand of hand-made aluminium sand-cast toys, plus other New Zealand made toys, with about 3000 items on display. A car racetrack and a model railway have child-level push-buttons to get things moving.

For over 40 years untold numbers of New Zealand children grew up with Fun Ho!’s rugged little models which come up smiling even after lengthy spells of being lost in the back garden. Tractors, trucks, cars, planes, trains and many other miscellaneous toys are fondly remembered. This is dairy farming country, and the budding young cow cockie (translation: dairy farmer) could find everything he or she needed in the way of equipment.

The foundry adjacent to the museum is still in working order, and visiting groups can watch the curator/toymaker demonstrate his craft (bookings required). With sand being an essential part of the process, what better place to install a sandpit where, at non-working times, the little ones can play while older members of the family inspect the machinery.

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Posted by Annie C on January 10, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)