Thursday 24 February 2022

Sylvanian Spring Part One - "Let's go out!"

 A week or so ago Butterfly and I headed to Small Worlds to remove the Christmas window and replace the display with something more suitable for the time of year.   Because we are still busy unpacking in the "big world" we needed a fairly quick fix so decided to make use of something that travelled over with me from England during the move - the Sylvanian world.

For once I am writing about something that is actually commercially available in toyshops and online in the Czech Republic so these delightful little animals are easily collectible over here. In fact I have had visitors in Small Worlds who have their own collection of Sylvanian families and houses, and there is an avid adult collectors' world out there to be found in many countries.   In some of these the brand is known as Calico Critters.  For more information you can take a look here and here or just google for Sylvanian collectors.

Not that I have had my own collection very long.    In fact I see that I was very dismissive of them back in 2012 when I wrote a blogpost all about scale because they certainly do not conform to any notion of that. Many of the animals have a hard time fitting into the furniture made for them, and as for the relative sizes of the animals themselves.....! You will find mice taking on bears and rabbits the size of elephants. Meercats and cows mix happily, as do penguins and wild boar.

But a couple of years after I wrote that post I read a detective story in which one of the children collected Sylvanians and the descriptions were so enticing I took a further look at them. As luck would have it, my granddaughter was trawling the internet with me and fell in love with the meercats at the same time as I did with the hedgehogs,   And another collection was born of course!

Another fairly comprehensive earlier blogpost about them is here.  But now we are in another country and a new setting.

As is usual with me, everything emerged from the packing boxes in a state of total chaos....



Whilst I sat and sorted through the boxes, grouping and brushing up the families, sorting and cleaning the furniture and accessories, Butterfly started to set out the houses and cars in the window and then began to tell herself stories about what was going on there as the families joined in.







Because this is a window display, the items can only face one way of course which is why this is a two part blogpost.   At some point in the next few weeks Part Two will reveal life inside the buildings and we hope that you will enjoy both glimpses into this particular Small World.

As usual I end with a stream of assorted photos. And two items of good news. If all goes well we hope to open Small Worlds as usual this summer, after the gap in 2021.  Provisional opening date is June 18th.    And my good friend Jana Vlckova has found a relatively easy way of translating the blogposts into Czech so Czech readers will once again be able to follow the miniature scene at Cestininy domečky pro panenky because I hope to be able to continue it if she does not have time. Thank you Jana!











See you soon in Part Two of Sylvanian Spring!

11 comments:

  1. Delightful scenes. I'm slightly concerned about the adult meerkats' approach to Heath and Safety in stowing their baby behind the front car seat, but what do I know of meerkat ways?

    Looking forward to Part 2 🙂

    Andrea xx

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    1. Well now, I rather think that it is something of a miracle that they have car seats at all in Meercat World. It's the dummy that I absolutely love!

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  2. Lovely photos, and a great reminder that surely Spring isn't too far away, despite the -12C reading here this morning!! And I'm glad to hear the good news that you should be able to re-open to the public this summer, too. Looking forward to part 2 of this.
    Susan

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    1. Eek -12! It's been horribly windy here but temps not too bad at the moment. Part Two should follow in a couple of weeks or so, before I head for the UK at the end of March for a few weeks.

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  3. What a lovely surprise to see your post!!
    Such excitement, wonderful idea to use the Sylvanian families.
    Xx

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    1. Lovely to see you Christine. Glad you like the Sylvanians. I must say I surprised myself with my conversion to them, given how scathing I was when I first met them years ago!

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  4. Also looking forward to Part 2 - and I haven't forgotten the stuff I promised Butterfly; it's safely put aside, and I'll get round to emailing you both soon!

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    1. No worries! Having just about finished finding homes for absolutely everything we quail slightly at the idea of anything else! Though it will be welcomed with open arms once we have recovered a little....

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  5. how wonderful to see a post - I am running late this morning as the company I work for had our postponed Christmas party last night but I had to read this before i get ready for work this morning!

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    1. Hi Helen, lovely to see you. Miserable February is a good time to have a Christmas party! Hope the blog didn't make you too late for work...

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  6. Awww my daughter and I love Sylvanian Families. My daughter is now 20 years old so I have packed them away but I'm sure I will get them out for a play sometime soon.

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