Fourteen Facts

You think you know all about Wimborne Model Town?

Model Town development manager Greg Hoar has come up with 14 facts you didn’t know about the attraction, which is re-opening on 11 July.

1. The Model Town cost £10,000 to build in the 1950s, equivalent to £320,000 today

2. Wimborne Model Town wasre-opened at the King Street site by entertainer Roy Castle in June 1991.

The re-opening by Roy Castle in 1991. Also pictured is Pat Hymers and the town crier

3. The Model Town K6 Phone Box was made on a 3D printer, has a replica miniature interior and an authentic digital ringtone.

4. Until 2016, all washing up in the Tea Room was done by hand.

5. Small dioramas of The Blue Pool, Weymouth White Horse, Bath Hill Bournemouth and Badbury Rings were all early additional features of the Model Town.

The Model Town in lockdown

6. The Model Town has a miniature Quarter Jack on the Minster Tower who rings on the quarter hour just like his big brother across the road.

7. The number and layout of the Model Town buildings reflects the space available at the old site between 1951 and 1983.

8. Admission charges in the mid 1950s were 1 shilling (5p) adults, 6d (2 1/2p) children.

An entrance ticket from the 1950s

9. The Model Town is on the edge of the Leaze, an area of Wimborne abandoned as a settlement in the 13th century after the Black Death left its mark.

10. The incomplete Model Town first opened to the public in late 1951.

11. From the generosity of visitors, donations from The Holloway Fountain at the entrance to the Model Town gardens have supported a number of local charities since 1991, most recently Dorset Young Carers.

Model Town developement manager Greg Hoar

12. The landmark Miniature Minster weighs over 20 tons.

13. The Model Town lay derelict at its old site behind the Cornmarket between 1983 and 1987.

14. All the shop fronts and windows are removed from the Model Town buildings in early November and spend the winter being repaired, refurbished and painted by the Winter Workshop volunteers.