A slightly larger world.....

Yet another month has passed without a word from me.   I came back to the UK armed with photos so that I could write blogposts about Small Worlds even when far from the coasts of Bohemia.   But somehow it doesn't seem to work like that.

Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but it also makes the writing harder!   So I looked around for some more local inspiration and found it no further away than the foot of my English bed.....



My bedroom here doubles as a playroom for when the grandchildren visit - Sylvanian dolls houses and animals under the window....

.....a wooden clothes horse full of string puppets from a Czech street market...

.....now sheltered by a giant ficus - more of them another time perhaps -

.....a baby doll in a high chair, complete with attendant animals,  










and, tucked cosily in front of the Victorian fireplace, a family of dolls.   Not tiny dolls house dolls, but proper doll-size dolls.   Well, what I think of as doll-size anyway.

These are not actually intended for children's play.   They mainly belong to my daughter but are allowed to grace my bedroom as she has no space to display them herself.





They sit on a "Victorian" chaise longue...

..and the setup always rather reminds me of the photo of my mother with her family of dolls, taken in about 1920, which now stands on the mantelpiece in my bedroom.




So in this blogpost I thought I would introduce you to the family of Sasha dolls.   Ours have been with us for more than 35 years but they were first made in Britain in 1966, a year after they were first produced in Germany.   The German dolls have differently painted faces - our family of dolls is all British.

The family consists of Sasha and Gregor with three babies, from left to right, Kim, Robin, and Nikki.   You will note the careful choice of the babies' names.  Boy or girl, take your pick.  

Sadly our family is still incomplete - we are lacking a redheaded Sasha.   But we can always hope!



When I decided on a photoshoot I enlisted the help of my granddaughter, who was thrilled to at last be given a chance to play with them.   She is responsible for most of the following poses.....

In this photo Sasha is wearing her original outfit of a blue gingham dress but Gregor has clearly been given a handmade sweater for Christmas'

In this family group picture, however, he is once again sporting his football kit, which is what he was wearing when he joined the household. 

Though whose are those jeans he is wearing?  Should be shorts.

I am not quite certain of the provenance of Sasha's delightful dress but I have a suspicion that it is another creation by Sheila Randall, whose husband Norman was responsible for so many of the houses in Small Worlds.

Sheila herself is a highly skilled knitter of tiny garments which are on display in the museum.

I think this pose simply has to be captioned "Bring it on!"

Three little maids?  Or lads?

"It was this big! Honestly....."

And goodbye for now....







The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed two more dolls on the chaise-longue, and, indeed, some animals as well.  Which means that there will be a part two to this glimpse into a slightly larger world.....

Thank you for joining me.   I hope you have enjoyed it so far and look forward to seeing you again soon.