Object number
2010/154
Collection
Description
This is a black and white postcard showing an aerial view of the model village of Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, with a man standing in the background. The words 'With Greetings' are printed on the reverse. The model village was built in 1936–1937 and is still open today. It even has a model of the model village. Over the years, a variety of souvenir ephemera was produced, including guidebooks, postcards and pottery mementos.
Archival history
Collecting 20thc Rural Culture blog [Thursday, 2 September 2010] – ‘Bourton Model Village souvenirs, 1950s // The Model Village as a tourist attraction first appeared during the interwar years and in the 1950s and 1960s became a popular addition to many resort destinations from Hastings to Blackpool and from Corfe Castle to Skegness. It's not the appeal across the generations of seeing things in miniature but the fact that a traditional English rural village should so often be the subject that brings this within the sphere of the project. // At Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, a Mr Morris, landlord of the Old New Inn, began in 1936 to build a model village on some rough land behind the inn. Three years later, he and his six helpers, had managed to complete a miniature version of Bourton village in Cotswold stone at a ninth scale – right down to a model of the model village itself. // The model village first welcomed visitors on the Coronation Day of George VI in 1937 and it remains open behind the Inn to this day. Over the years it has generated a variety of souvenir ephemera, like the guidebook above which has Gulliver making a visit to Bourton and marvelling at the craftsmanship and ingenuity of the model's creators. // And there were pottery mementos as well for the day trippers in car or coach to take away with them.'
Object name
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