We have just given my daughter a Dolls House for her sixth birthday. Admittedly, it isn’t a beautiful Georgian regency town house but what makes it appealing is that this was the same dolls house given to me by my parents as a child. I distinctly remember when I opened it for the first time and spent hours and hours playing with it. It has sat in my father’s shed for the past 28 years and has narrrowly escaped the rubbish dump during regular clear outs and a house move. When we dug it out recently, I was shocked to see how much smaller and less impressive it was than I remembered. As well as the cobwebs and mouldy bright orange carpets and brown flowery wallpaper, it was extremely basic, with not an original feature in sight. I duly brought it home and was going to put it outside by the bins, when our daughter spotted it. Even in its sad looking state, she loved it and was adamant that this was the Dolls House she wanted for her birthday. She brought it inside and spent ages cleaning it. She loved the fact that this was the house that her mummy had played with as a child.
Grandpa has spent weeks restoring the house, updating the electrics and generally gutting it. He and I spent much time in ‘Sherlock Homes’, the Dolls House shop in Shaftesbury, leafing through interior books and mulling over wallpaper and carpets. I probably put more effort into this than I did in my own house! Once fully renovated, it would be described by any estate agent as, “lovingly restored.”
My daughter’s face was priceless when she unwrapped it on her birthday and she has since spent hours pondering over where furniture should go and, most importantly, what the house was to be called. She has already decided that she wants to spend her pocket money on a small television set, a newspaper and some curtains. “Afterall Mummy, it must be horrid for them going to bed with no curtains.” The only sad thing is that the Dolls House shop in Shaftesbury is due to close this month. Therefore, she will not be able to enjoy spending her pocket money on the range of little items displayed on the counter, like little one penny chews. We will now have to resort to scrolling through pages on the internet instead, which is not quite the same but it is unfortunately a sign of the times. Despite this, at least we know that something so treasured has been lovingly restored by one generation and passed down to be enjoyed by another.
