Monday 17 June 2019

Down on the Farm....

I have never returned to the Czech Republic quite as late as I have this year and seeing the Christmas display still in the window of Small Worlds made me feel very negligent.  I whisked it out on my second day back, over two weeks ago, but it has taken till now to completely finish the new display.

But worry not - the window has not remained empty, it's just that I have had to add things bit by bit. Moving around does not happen at the same speed as it used to!  As Rose, now approaching 102, is fond of saying "Old age never comes alone!"  And temperatures in the 30s do not help, although Small Worlds does remain blessedly cool - until one starts to move around!

I have several plans for window displays this year and have been collecting things avidly in the UK, both from charity shops and car boot sales.  I haven't been able to use any of the items for this window though as most of the material is still packed in boxes.  So I had to dream up something quite quickly using what was already available in Small Worlds.

I thought that if I filled half the window with an actual dolls house I wouldn't need to find too much else for the other half. So I considered what I had a lot of and decided on farm animals.  Originally I was going to make it a local farm, using Colin Rose's lovely Czech house 
but I discovered it was so heavy that I could not move it without help.   I then realised that the Bears' Cavern house
would work, and even better, the Bears' Christmas house, which used to be my granddaughter's play house here in the Czech Republic, could take its place in the museum - with all signs of Christmas removed of course!

The rest of the task was relatively easy - as you can see, the Children's Corner alone has a fair selection of animals, and there is another farm display to rob, er, borrow from,  under the Czech house, complete with tractor and a campsite.  

I laid some ground work on the window sill and used.... 





...one of my useful charity shop acquisitions to make paths. Rolls of wallpaper at around 75p a roll are always worth picking up....



Once I had reluctantly rejected a flock of sheep for size reasons (cow-sized sheep?) it was just a matter of making a tree to knit the two sides of the window together and putting things into place....





The little bears were ejected from the Christmas creche in which they had been for seven months and it turned into a cowshed.... 





The carefree lad in the green hat has been with us for more years than I can remember.....





...the other two I bought last summer at a giant carboot sale in Prague. 



I was delighted when I realised they were by the same maker. They are very like Hummel figurines but I doubt if they are authentic.

Before I leave you with a series of photos of the first of the summer windows, I should perhaps also bring you up to date on other news.  

Last week I had the great pleasure of giving a class of local ten year olds a further glimpse into the fascinating world of the osprey, which I introduced to Bavorov last October.   This opportunity came courtesy of their class teacher, my friend Jana, who then swiftly reported on the event on the school's webpages  helpfully flagging up the existence of Small Worlds at the same time.


I took my porcelain osprey nest along to the classroom and we were able to watch live streaming onto a giant screen from nests in Wales, Poland, Scotland and Estonia. I spoke in simple English, with Jana translating as needed.  The children asked lots of questions - some even in English - and Jana tells me they are following up the talk with some projects and continuing to watch the live streaming at some point each day.   Maybe one day there will be a Czech nest with a webcam on it......

The ospreys are now safely back in Small Worlds 
and I hope donations towards conservation will grow.


They now come complete with a portrait of fish that they are likely to eat (can anyone identify any of them?)......
....courtesy of the wonderful Look and Learn magazine - hands up who remembers it from their childhood? 

Sadly not in time for the classroom talk, a paper model of a young male osprey has arrived in my house. I say young male because his wingspan is just 1.5m - he looks remarkably real and has been beautifully constructed by the artist Colin Rose. He told me today that he will shortly be having an exhibtion in nearby Vodnany not just of his paintings, but of the paper models he builds and the houses he has made for Small Worlds.   In the meantime, here's my very own osprey!





He will shortly be flying through Bavorov to the Small Worlds Museum where he will hang above the Children's Corner.  I think I will then have a naming competition for him -5kc a go for osprey conservation.


Speaking of birds, one of the first things I had to do on arrival was replace the beautiful clock Butterfly made several years ago (about the same time as this guest book) as it will currently only work in a semi-reclining position. 


How fortunate then that I had been given a wonderful clock for Christmas - one that is guaranteed to startle visitors as it plays a different bird call every hour.   I can tell you that the Great Tit has a very strange call!

And in other news, on Thursday I will be interviewed about Small Worlds at an event devoted to presenting a new tourist map of the region of South Bohemia. Small Worlds appears on it as a worthwhile place to visit and as far as I can gather,there will be a number of travel writers in the audience, as well as members of the general public. I have been asked to take a few small houses and room boxes with me.   I do enjoy getting some free publicity!

Back to Down on the Farm - I leave you with a series of photos, taken with difficulty once the display was in position, and I look forward to seeing you again fairly soon once some more boxes have been unpacked!


Duck pond before...

...and after












Now all I have to do is work out how to explain Little Miss Muffet to the mainly Czech visitors to Small Worlds. (Nice link - keep scrolling!)








24 comments:

  1. Yes, well, if spiders that size came and sat down next to me, I'd be running too! Poor Little Miss Muffet... excellent link. Great to see all is well down on the farm - I'm glad the mutant sheep didn't get to stay. But let us not forget the largest cow in the world!
    Ax

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    1. Ah well, seems the link isn't working... just google "the largest cow in the world" and look at the images!

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    2. Indeed - no need to worry about scale any more!!

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  2. Jana (other Jana!) thought it was an octopus!

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  3. Love the new window! not a fan of the giant spider though!

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    1. A bigger one than that wanders around the ceiling above my bed every night Helen....

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  4. Love the new window, and the news of the ospreys - I'm sure the children in Jana's class are enjoying learning more about those. The link to the various books is fascinating, too. Hope Thursday's interview goes well.

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    1. Thanks Susan. Am a bit nervous but I know the interviewer quite well - he made the TV programme that can be seen via the blog - and is very gentle and careful of "my darling Czech" as someone once described it :-)

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  5. The only fish I can identify with certainty is the pike! Looking forward to our visit - all booked now! - and hoping the giant spider doesn't frequent the guest room too often!!

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    1. Excellent news re booking. Giant (transparent) spider happy where he is and the guest room will have had several occupants and therefore several lots of cleaning before you come in October so you should be fairly safe!

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  6. Wow! He's amazing. Big bravo to Colin.

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  7. Wow! That was well worth the prompt to come back and look at the blog again. What a beautiful paper sculpture!

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  8. I know for a fact that ospreys like trout - if you were very lucky you could see them fishing at the Rothiemurchus ponds, near Aviemore (we used to fish there during the years my mother owned a timeshare up there). And I remember Look and Learn, although I don't remember learning anything from it.... Love the new window. We didn't make it that far this trip - just Brno and Prague, and we drove up on the east side of the motorway, not the west!

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    1. I didn't realise you had been over this way again recently though I was probably still in England.

      Yes ospreys devour many trout and also mullet,sewin and flounder are popular on the Dyfi nest. The occasional garfish comes along as well but is not always welcomed. Google YouTube for a 2011 video from Dyfi called The Garfish to see some wonderful reactions...

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  9. Oh, that was hilarious - talk about trying to get a toddler to try something new.... You can read all about our latest adventures on my travel blog.

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  10. Wow that paper Osprey is amazing. I love your new farm window display too, I also collect vintage farms & animals and still have all my Britains plastic animals from my childhood in the 1970s (it was my favourite toy).

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    1. Glad you like it Diane. How lovely to have all your Britains animals - is that both zoo and farm? We have a complete Britains garden in Small Worlds that Butterfly and her brother used to play with when they were little but I don't think we had many animals. A few soldiers and some cowboys....

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  11. The Osprey is so realistic, Colin is a very talented artist indeed! I really love your farmhouse display, the pig in the trough has such a look of satisfaction on his/her face! Your tree is fabulous!

    I loved fishing with my Dad as a child growing up in Canada and I think the large fish at the top is a Pike, further down the larger ones appear to be Trout although the larger one is more Salmon looking, they have quite a distinctive mouth. I really enjoyed popping over from Butterfly's blog today, thank you! Anne x

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  12. Love your new window and I can imagine your excitement at the young Osprey arriving with you. A lovely display.
    Hugs, Neet x

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  13. Hi Cestina, Saw your message on Caesareas FB page. Sad that the live chat on DOP ended so suddenly. I enjoyed reading your comments and the many answers you gave to my questions. Thank you so much and hope to speak to you next season, With love, Siani Llwyd xx

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  14. Thanks Siani! See you next year, if not elsewhere in between :-)

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