One Of Those Weeks!

We all get them don't we....a week when things go 'not according to plan'. Days you'd rather forget, appliances that cease working and arrangements arranged and re-arranged....

It was one of those! Consequently no work was done on the miniature front except for a start on kits for the two workshops this summer.  To be fair my other half has been in the workshop sawing manfully for us so that the shop room boxes can be part constructed,  while Celia and I have been chasing down mountboard and extra paint..........don't even ask!!

On the much brighter front the garden looks super (also the weeds), bluebells are out and the weather perked up long enough for a lovely trip to Badbury Clump, a bluebell covered hill located just outside the historic market town of Faringdon in Oxfordshire.

This has been a favourite haunt since I was a child and we try and visit at this time of year, although it's wonderful at any time.  The hill is an iron age fort set in ancient woodland and managed beautifully by The National Trust - a truly magical and spiritual place.

The town of Faringdon itself is dominated by an eccentric folly - called The Folly Tower, built in the early 1930s on a wooded hill above the town (already called Folly Hill) by Lord Berners, reportedly as a birthday present for his protege. Some present!  Still it's a lovely view in the distance from Badbury Hill, as is the ancient White Horse carved on the hill just above the village of Uffington, in the other direction.  

Thanks for looking
Robin

Our 1/24th Scale Little German Style Shop is Complete

Such a lovely moment when Celia and I look at each other and nod. Another project prototype is finished and we can embark on the mammoth task of kit making. Time to take a walk in our gardens and enjoy the spring flowers!
And here it is - true the old fashioned scales are not yet in position or the old lovely hanging lamp - but they're made and we're having fun creating a little packaging etc.  The early 1900s German Style shop will be whatever kind of emporium the participants at the workshops choose to make it and there's lots of scope from wonderful hat and frock shops to high class groceries.  We're so looking forward seeing what it and the 1/12th scale version becomes when individuals put their own very personal stamp in it.

If you'd like to see more of this and past projects go to our Nostalgia in Miniature Workshops website.www.miniatureworkshops.com     
And here are the scales - both scales.

One of the supermarkets has been selling bunches of daffodils with a proportion of the sale price going to charity - what a lovely idea!  Incidentally I'd love to grow some of these in my garden next year - does anyone know the variety??  They're in one of my favourite vintage enamel jugs.
 

In the garden the spring flowers are a picture - these are  Fritillary uva-vulpa which I've grown in a pot this year but they will move into my wild patch where I already have a lovely group of Snakes-Head Fritillaries establishing really well.

Thanks for looking
Robin

Some More Little People

The two latest 1/24th characters have arrived in their new home and are ready to groom the horses!

I always have fun and original commissions from my friend Diane - and the last one was another.
Her club, as their new project were making sheds - nothing new there - then it got more interesting.  Sheds, but not as we know them! I'm dying to know what all the members came up with but I know one might end up as a beach hut and the other stables!  Which is where I came in.

Clearly the stable needs someone to keep things neat and tidy and the horses and ponies mucked and well looked after, which of course is where Dad comes in, not to mention a young teenager mad on riding ready to take out the pony.

I've loved creating these little characters and hope very much that in the fullness of time I'll get to see them in situ.

A friend in the north tells me they've had snow, torrential rain and wonderful sunny days in the same week - that's British weather for you! Further south we've missed the snow but had the rest.  Yesterday I had a lovely productive gardening day and my little cats came out to sunbathe.

Lily chose a sunny spot right on top of plants in the border of course and positioned herself photogentically next to a clump of bluebells.


Thanks for looking
Robin