The continuing loss of so many cottages which represented our traditional rural England led me to preserve a record of these old homes as an expression of a lost way of life.

Working with traditional materials and methods allowed me to construct these seminal buildings 32 times smaller, but in precise proportion to the original building. I used plans and photographs measured and taken on site, or from exact archival records. In each case reproducing the heyday of the building.

During my on site research for Willy Lott's Cottage, featured in John Constable's painting "The Hay-Wain" I found that the restorers had carved on a panel of the staircase, lines which mirror my own motivation:

      O, there are Voices of the Past
      Links of a broken chain,
      Wings that can bear me back to Times
      Which cannot come again;
      Yet God forbid that I should lose
      The echoes that remain.

Prince Charles called my buildings 'A miniature building museum' and Sir Paul Getty 'A new form of art'.

I was trained as a precision engineer and turned those skills to rebuilding the lost cottage heritage of Britain.  I have written for many magazines and often appeared on T.V., this brought me the private funding which enabled the completion of the necessary years of research.

My earlier book 'Landscapes in Miniature' explains the miniature trees and plants used to create a living countryside, their care, and the basics of my building techniques.

Each cottage is built upon a solid base (foundations) and will therefore stand alone as an indoor display piece, or let into the planting soil, out of doors. 

These buildings are made to weather naturally in outdoor conditions where the years will add the authentic patina of age.