Bekonscot
Bekonscot ( Bekonscot model village ) is the oldest miniature model of the village in the world. The model reflects aspects of England, mainly since the 1930s. Thumbnails are built of natural materials and reduced by 12 times compared to the original.
Baconskot was created by accountant Roland Kallingham from the village of Bikonsfield in 1920. Roland and his friends developed a project of his miniature empire as an addition to the vast home territory. Together they came up with a landscape model depicting rural England of that time. They made a sea out of the pool, small hillocks became huge hills, and put into operation the railway. The name Baconscot arose from the village of Biconspield and Ascot, where Roland used to live. The park expanded during the first half of the 20th century. Kallingham later sold the land around the model village for residential buildings, so the village is completely surrounded by houses and its expansion is impossible. On the territory of the village you can see the railway, coal mine, castles, windmills, trams, pier, funicular, dwarf trees.
The bacon was not designed as a commercial project, it was just a toy for entertaining Roland and his friends. But by 1930, many had learned about the village, since the name often flickered on the pages of newspapers. Frequent newsreels such as Pate, international newspapers provided a constant flow of visitors making donations. Bekonscot has become a source of inspiration for many other exemplary villages and miniature parks around the world of Madurodam, Burton-on-Water, Wimborn, Great-Jarmouth and Mini-Europe.
Of particular value in the village model is the railway, with a length of about 15 km. The road is controlled by a computer that sends up to 12 trains at any given time along the route. Many trains have been operating since its foundation and are of great historical value. Some of them have been working for over 50 years, and each travels about 3,000 kilometers per year. The railroad model includes 7 stations, tunnels, crossings, a reduced copy of Harbor Bridge in Sydney.
