Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to visit a model village. I’d seen many on TV, and marvelled over them, but I hadn’t ever seen one myself. Then I went to the Isle of Wight and found myself in the quaint little village of Godshill. I was walking along the high street when there it was: a model village.
What a model village. It really is a feast for the eyes, with model pubs, shops, a church, beach (complete with beach huts), working railway, gymkhana and more. It is so quintessentially English. It’s set in the grounds of an old vicarage and the models are a 1:10 scale version of the village of Godshill, Shanklin Old Village and Shanklin Chine.
The owners are Stuart and Penny Dyer, and the village has been in their family for more than 50 years. Penny’s father, Robin Thwaites, bought it in the 1960s when it was in a run-down state. “Dad had a toy shop in Portsmouth. A passion of his was Airfix models,” Penny explains. “He used to live on the island, and was keen to move back, so when he saw the model village was up for sale, he thought it would be a good fit.”
The original owner started work on building a model village in the 1950s, with the idea of creating a true representation of Shanklin. Real houses in Shanklin were measured and photographed, so they could be reproduced in the making of the buildings. The Godshill part of the model village came later, in the 1970s.
Denne historien er fra April 2023-utgaven av Best of British.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra April 2023-utgaven av Best of British.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
THE FEW ON SCREEN
Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV
Table Service
Rachel Toy looks at the history of Ridgway Homemaker tableware
Hever Forever
Claire Saul studies the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle & Gardens - a castle fit for a queen
Shining a Light
Tony O’Neil tunes into the history of the last manned lightvessel
The Man With the Goldeneye
Film stills photographer Keith Hamshere describes how he came to enter the world of James Bond
THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN BALLS
lan Wheeler looks back on 70 years of Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers, and chats to the man who edited and oversaw both titles
To Play the Queen
Chris Hallam looks back on the life of one of the UK’s best known lookalikes
POOLING RESOURCES
Martin Handley looks at what life was like after the Vernons Girls
POSTCARD FROM= SUSSEX
Bob Barton indulges in pleasure piers and fairground delights, as well as fulfilling a long-held ambition to visit the home of Rudyard Kipling
Oh, Miss Jones
Chris Hallam looks back at the origins and legacy of Rising Damp, ITV's most successful sitcom