A visit to Bourton model village

The entrepreneurial Mr and Mrs Morris

In the early 20th century, Bourton-on-the-Water had become a fledgling tourist destination. During the interwar years, with growing car ownership, tourism in the town was on the increase and the entrepreneurial Mr and Mrs Morris decided they needed to encourage more of those visiting the town to visit their hostelry.

An original idea - Bourton model village was born

The original idea was to turn the vegetable garden behind the inn into a glen with a waterfall, a stream and arched bridges inspired by those in Bourton. However, the idea soon expanded into creating a faithful model of the old part of Bourton-on-the-Water. So, Mr and Mrs Morris duly set about making precise measurements of the town.

A five-year plan

Having made the measurements, Mr and Mrs Morris paid a team of eight local craftsmen to construct the village. Rather than employing model makers, Mr and Mrs Morris employed house builders. As a result, the methods used were scaled down versions of those used to construct real buildings. For example, the roofs were made using miniature slates of Cotswold stone quarried from the Huntsman's Quarry which is located 3 miles (4.8 km) from the village.

Bourton-on-the-Water in miniature miniature

What they ended up with was an accurate one-ninth scale replica of the old heart of Bourton-on-the-Water as the town would have appeared in the early 1930s, with its largely Cotswold vernacular buildings from the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. This included accurately positioned dry-stone boundary walls, on a tiny scale, with the appropriate cock-and-hen capping or flat capping stones, and miniature beech, cherry and chestnut trees. The model consists of around 100 buildings and covers the area of Bourton-on-the-Water from the old mill in the north (which now houses the Motor Museum) to the Old New Inn in the south.

As in real life, behind the model of the Old New Inn there is a model of the model village, which is one ninth scale of the actual model village, that is 1:81 scale. Of course, this has its own model of the model village at 1:729 scale and painted within this is a model village at 1:6,561 scale.

Two of the buildings have visible interiors. The first is the parish Church of St Lawrence, with its medieval nave and Georgian tower. This is the one building that is out of place in the model. In reality it falls outside the area covered by the model, but such a lovely building could not be left out. The other building with a visible interior is the Baptist chapel which has a complete set of interior fittings.

Ongoing maintenance and restoration of the model village - A work of love

Except for updating the miniature shop signs and windows so they reflect their modern full-size buildings, the model has remained almost unaltered since its completion. The little buildings are now over 80 years old. Unlike some model villages, the buildings at Bourton cannot be taken in and stored during the winter and are therefore subject to the ravages of the British weather. The fragile nature of the buildings means there is a programme of restoration and maintenance constantly on the go.

In addition, a small team of gardeners is employed to maintain the tiny lawns and to manicure the miniature trees and shrubs, including some bonsai trees that were planted in the 1930s.

An important record

The model village in Bourton-on-the-Water has been recognised for its architectural, cultural and historic importance and was registered as a grade II listed building in 2013. It is the only grade II listed model village in the country. It was listed because:

• it is one of the very earliest miniature villages to be constructed in England. The only earlier example being Bekonscot in Buckinghamshire which was begun in 1929, although not completed until well after the one in Bourton
• it faithfully reproduces the Cotswold vernacular buildings of the town as they appeared in 1936, the layout is a record of the town at the time
the buildings are constructed using authentic materials and locally sourced limestone and Cotswold stone slates
• it was constructed by builders rather than model makers, which is reflected in the high quality of the finish and the detailed appearance of the buildings and walls
• with the exception of updating the shop signs and windows, the buildings are unaltered since the model was completed
• the model village was the first tourist attraction to be constructed in the town

The Model Village, Bourton - Well worth a visit

The Bourton-on-the-Water miniature village is well worth a visit, especially if you have children. It will take about 20 to 30 minutes to walk around.

There is also, in an adjacent building, a unique exhibition of highly detailed miniature scenes and room sets that are also well worth seeing (at a small additional cost, at the time of writing, of £1.00). These were created by over one hundred of England's leading miniaturist craftspeople..

At the time of writing, entrance to the model village was £4.50 for an adult, £4.00 for over 60s and £3.50 for children (3 to 13 years).

Further details can be seen on the Bourton Model Village page of this website and the Bourton Model Village website https://theoldnewinn.co.uk/model-village.