Monday 21 April 2014

Too late......

I fear I am just too late with my promised Easter post to legitimately wish everyone a Happy Easter.   Packing and travelling events overtook me, and I am now sitting in Germany, well en route to the Czech Republic, and all the work that awaits in Small Worlds.   This will not only consist of getting on with the renovation of a number of houses, but also the complete revamping of the layout in order to accommodate the four large houses that need to join the collection.

More of all that shortly, but in the meantime I should like to bid farewell to England for the time being, by finishing what I started in my last post.

I left you with a reminder to take note of the roundabout and roads so that's where I shall begin.....with a very ordinary piece of oilcloth 




which my son and daughter-in-law (known to many of you from her blog), transformed into what would become the nucleus of the Playpeople Town road system. 












Our real-life move to a much smaller house has meant, as you learned last time, the packing away of the town for the moment.   I kept the road out though, thinking that from time to time my grandchildren might like to bring out one or two of the buildings to play with.   I had not, however, reckoned with the wholescale invasion of many tiny animals, most of which you met in another recent blog post.


These hordes of animals could not, of course, all live in the Art Deco house - particularly since that is now en route to the Czech Republic and is one of the houses we are going to struggle to find a space for in Small Worlds.

Almost without knowing it, I found that I had acquired a few buildings for the animal families.   And where better to set them out than on the road complex?




It is, at the moment, somewhat less populated than the Playpeople Town, but give us time!

Living in Sylvialand - apart from those who have recently been made homeless from the Art Deco house - are many rabbits who have taken over the biggest house, which they are sharing with a few squirrels. 

There seems to be a doctor amongst them, or maybe Papa Rabbit has not had time to get out of his working clothes before saying goodnight to his many offspring? 


Mama Rabbit has clearly been patronising the little bakery at the other end of the town - 







probably just as well if she has to feed invading squirrels as well as her own colony of baby rabbits.









The bakery, set in the old watermill, is very popular with the residents of Sylvialand 







They visit regularly to stock up with freshly baked loaves and scrumptious croissants.










Just off the roundabout can be found the toyshop, specialising (of course!) in dolls houses.  







Some years ago the town had a small cafe, where the young courting couples could meet and become friends - or more.   Recently, however, it has become clear that there is a much greater need for a creche to take care of the results of these meetings and so the former cafe has now been transformed into just that.   

As you can see, the young meerkat in charge more than has her hands full!




So that is Sylvialand for the moment.   I am on the hunt for a hotel to house the currently homeless, and a caravan or river barge to take up the slack.   Though I suppose a barge would also mean adding a river.....it never stops!

Towards the end of this week Butterfly and I should arrive in Bavorov so all being well, the next report should come from Small Worlds.   In the meantime, thank you for following thus far and I hope to see you here again soon.