Ideal for a day’s outing

Saturday, 6 January 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

It is a fascinating visit through a picturesque old English village named Cockington in Devon. The old village has been redone in Canberra and is a popular place for visitors to spend the day enjoying the scenery and beautifully turned out miniature buildings to many other models.

Once you enter the Cockington Green Gardens passing colourful flower beds and an old style house, you walk through pathways admiring and studying the neatly turned out village houses, farms, the church, sports grounds, club houses and many more. The whole area covers five acres and has been in existence since November 1979.

A family-owned business, it was the brainchild of the Sarah family following a visit to Babbacombe Model Village in UK in 1972. It took six years to complete the project with models being turned out in one-twelfth scale. A brochure explains that the original models were constructed using a framework of fibrous cement sheeting. Many have been replaced but many of the original ones are still in good shape. A model of the item required is made from a suitable material, usually balsawood or plasticine, and a silicone rubber mould taken of that, in which the final product if formed in polyester resin. The window or door is then fitted into the wall sheet, which is now made of fibreglass, the brochure describes the procedure.

Popular sports like cricket and soccer have been given top preference to illustrate how the village-folk spend their leisure time. What a lot of effort to turn out the players in the sports kits and to fill the stadium with fans!

A train ride powered by a steam engine takes you round the Gardens, reminding you of the time we used the ‘kuchu kuchu kochchiya’ in the good old days.

In addition to the train ride, miniature trains operates from the village railway stations much to the delight of not only the children but adults as well, the latter going back to their childhood days.

In addition to the English village, an International Section displays buildings – mostly world renowned ones in several countries. That’s another story.