Category:Britains Floral Garden (1990s display)

Past Displays and Exhibitions
Britains Floral Garden 1990s - Arch
100 Years of Steam Ambulance Station Bleriot to Concorde Britains Floral Garden British Toy Racing Cars Coronation Scot at Brighton Toy and Model Museum Doctor Who Exhibition The Fairground Forts and Castles Hailey Models Hop on a bus Japanese Dolls Leeds Model Company (LMC) Legend of Hornby Models of Yesteryear (display) Napoleonic War dioramas Postal Toys The Smurfs The Spot-On Collection RMS Titanic World War One

Archive photo of the display, circa ~1990s [image info]

The museum's Britains Floral Garden display, based on the collection of Andre Michel, was a significant attraction in the museum during its earliest years, back in the 1990s. The display cabinet has since been reallocated to our display of Minic Ships, and the collection is currently in storage (November 2016).

In storage:

Two of the five trays holding the Floral Garden collection:

Packed away safely: one of the five trays currently holding the collection, during a 2016 archive review. The trays are normally housed in an collection archival case.

Floral Garden Collection, tray #4 of 5

1990s descriptive text:

This unusual and rare example of a Britains Miniature Garden layout of the 1960s, manufactured in plastic, poses quite a contrast to the rustic charm of the 1930s Britains Farm display elsewhere in the museum. The stark neatness and order of a large suburban garden of this period may appear banal, but there is much detail here: realistic greenhouses, garden sheds, trellises, cloches, flower and vegetable plots, garden furniture, in fact, enough equipment to start a horticultural business.

A bit too neat and tidy for the "The Good Life", but an ideal playset for a budding young "Percy Thrower".

The garden exhibits many features which are indistinguishable from a contemporary garden of today over thirty years later, a comparison that cannot be made with the Britains Farm figures, which seem to be another world away.

See also:

• Britains Floral Garden – catalogue images and listings

External links

• Obituary of Roy Selwyn-Smith (1923-2006), designer of Swoppets and Britains Floral Garden (theguardian.com)

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