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Wimborne Model Town

Miniature parksTourist attractions in Dorset
Wimborne model town Woolworths, The Square geograph.org.uk 539994
Wimborne model town Woolworths, The Square geograph.org.uk 539994

Wimborne Model Town, situated on the edge of the town of Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England, is one of the largest and most established model towns in England. It depicts the town of Wimborne as it was at the time the model was originally made in the 1950s, and captures the essence of a typical market town of rural England at that time. The concrete model, built at 1/10 scale, features 120 buildings including 108 shop fronts and a 15 ft (5m) high Minster. The shop windows accurately show the goods the shops were selling in the post war years.Originally built on a site just to the north-west of the actual Wimborne Minster church, it became run-down in the 1980s, and a group of volunteers set up a charity and were given an area of 0.4 hectare (1 acre) of Green Belt land off King Street to restore the attraction. Although such use of Green Belt land would normally have been deemed inappropriate development, the District planners considered that the model's retention in the town was a 'special circumstance'. The council has since permitted over 245 square metres of temporary classroom buildings incorporating a visitors centre, cafe/gift shop, toilets etc. together with play cabins associated with the children's play area.Additional attractions have been added in recent years, including a model railway based on Thomas the Tank Engine, which was opened by Christopher Awdry. Today the model town is still run by volunteers, and is visited by thousands of people every year.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Wimborne Model Town (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Wimborne Model Town
King Street,

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Wikipedia: Wimborne Model TownContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 50.798333333333 ° E -1.9908333333333 °
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Wimborne Model Town & Gardens

King Street
BH21 1EA
England, United Kingdom
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Wimborne model town Woolworths, The Square geograph.org.uk 539994
Wimborne model town Woolworths, The Square geograph.org.uk 539994
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Museum of East Dorset
Museum of East Dorset

The Museum of East Dorset (formerly known as the Priest's House Museum) is a local museum in the town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, England. It is located on the high street, opposite the Church of Wimborne Minster. The museum occupies a historic Grade II* listed building, a hall house dating from the late 16th or early 17th century.The museum is dedicated to rural life in a market town in Dorset and the exhibits are based on the daily lives of people within the house and within Wimborne and Dorset. There are also exhibits on the religious use of the building and its home to past ministers of the Minster Church. The building has been restored and many of the original features remain intact for public appreciation. Notable rooms are the 17th-century main hall and the 18th-century parlour and Victorian kitchen with its working 'Beetonette' range. Displays include reconstructions of local businesses that once ran from the building. Mr Low's Victorian stationery shop (closed up for over 30 years) and the Coles' Ironmongers were both recreated from original shop stock. In addition to the main museum house, the East Dorset Villages Gallery gives a taste of local community life from industry to shopping, school to church life, with a hands-on Victorian schoolroom. A walled garden, with seating, behind the Priest's House covers one third of an acre and is open to visitors to the house. A tea room, formerly the 1920s Boathouse, also in the garden and on the banks of the River Allen, is open to visitors. The Museum is run by an independent charitable trust. It is supported by East Dorset District Council but relies on admission income to operate.