People keep stealing our model people! They do seem to like a souvenir of their visit…thankfully it’s quite rare now.

There are some wonderful stories to be told, like how guests used to be allowed to swim in the main pond, how we keep on digging up disused branch lines of the model railway, how we discovered a complete 2-feet gauge train buried underground, or how Princess Margaret crashed the model railway!

I do recall about ten years ago coming in early one foggy morning and was startled to see a full-size robed figure swish past the ruined castle on the Downs, and up the valley. It turned out to be our MD at the time, who was also a preacher at a local church and was practicing his sermon!

When the public aren’t there, it can be very spooky; especially either in early morning fog, or when the autumn nights draw in.

There’s nothing to compare scale to – so it’s almost as if everything around you is full size. It’s quite magical, in a foggy or dark empty park, to hear a train trundle past, brakelight swinging, and a semaphore signal clunk down. It’s rather like travelling back in time.

BEKONSCOT FACT:   There are now well over 3,000 shrubs and trees in the Model Village; many of these being of bonsai style, in scale with the models.   They are, however, not strictly 'bonsai', merely skilfully trimmed and gradually reshaped standard garden plants.

Do you get many model railway enthusiasts visit?

Hundreds! The railways are the main attraction. We’ve got Britain’s largest public outdoor model railway with 10 scale miles of fully-signalled track, a dozen trains and seven stations. It’s a massive draw.

I like to call it “Britain’s smallest heritage railway” – it’s been running for 75 years. There’s a lot of info about this Gauge 1 line on our website: www.bekonscot.com.

BEKONSCOT FACT:    There are normally between seven and ten model trains running at any one time, either by automatic computer control or by the fully-interlocked ex-BR lever frame in Maryloo Signal Box.

BEKONSCOT FACT:    Bekonscot is closed during the winter months for refurbishment. Each year, many models are renovated, renewed or replaced. Because the site is a building site at this time, Bekonscot cannot permit visitors.

So how can anyone help?

Tim Dunn is Bekonscot’s development co-ordinator and a well-respected authority on model villages and miniature parks.

For 12 years he’s helped manage, develop and promote Bekonscot, and advise other model villages on their own strategies.

More recently he has had a pivotal role in researching and preserving the history of British model villages.

He and a team are aiming to set up a museum, which will tell the history of the many model villages that have existed – and still do exist – in Britain.

He aims to foster interest in the genre, whilst providing consultation to other miniature parks on future development to guarantee their long-term success.