Bekonscot Model Village and Railway, Buckinghamshire

We had a really lovely day at the very popular Bekonscot Model Village. Bekonscot is one of the oldest original model villages in the world with quite a history that you can read about on their website or whilst going round the site. I don't remember the numbers but whilst there I read a notice about model villages dying out and there being so many less than a number of years ago, so its great to see this model village so busy and they also donate a lot of money to local and national charities.

The area around the model village is a housing estate, and limited car parking is provided on the church grounds opposite or local roads.
When we arrived we headed straight for the lake and played with the little power boats and then onto the children's playground which is really well designed (this is meant to be at the end of the village, but we went the wrong way around!). Beside this was the cafe with indoor and outdoor seating (some covered areas if it rains) where we had our picnic, we did buy ice creams in the cafe and the selection of food looked really nice.

We then spent ages going around the model village, you could easily walk around 2 or 3 times and spot something different. There is also a raised platform for an aerial view. There is a very complex gauge 1 model railway running around the site, which all the kids got excited about watching them going into and out of the tunnels. A few highlights are:  a miniature Bekonscot village with some great puns for the shop names, a lovely traditional fair, look for the lady washing her windows, a coal mine (very popular with the children), a burning building, ascot race course and a working water mill. Even the gardens are amazing, with minature trees and plants all trimmed to scale.

An extra cost to the entrance fee is a trip on the narrow gauge railway, which was a fun but short experience.

The site is really child friendly, and no problem at all for pushchairs. We had a really great time and could have spent a lot longer wondering around looking at everything.
http://www.bekonscot.co.uk/index.php