0:00:12 > 0:00:15MUSIC: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane
0:00:35 > 0:00:39'Dolls' houses have been around for over 400 years.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01'They are often symbols of a child's dream world...
0:01:05 > 0:01:07'..but this is not the whole story.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12'From a shoe box house
0:01:12 > 0:01:16'to the most lavish mansion for the serious collector,
0:01:16 > 0:01:19'they have a unique ability to enthral.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23But what is it that gives the doll's house
0:01:23 > 0:01:27the power to cast a spell, beyond childhood?
0:01:34 > 0:01:35'I'm Lauren Child -
0:01:35 > 0:01:39'author, illustrator and creator of Charlie And Lola.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43'I've always been drawn to dolls' houses...
0:01:44 > 0:01:46'..and that passion for the miniature world
0:01:46 > 0:01:50'continues to inspire me and shape my work, to this day.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57'In this programme, I'm going to explore the roots of our fascination
0:01:57 > 0:01:59'with this intriguing world.'
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Is it real, is it fantasy?
0:02:01 > 0:02:05We can make it real, in the doll's house
0:02:05 > 0:02:07'I'll look at the history of dolls' houses,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09'from some of the earliest examples
0:02:09 > 0:02:11'to their modern incarnations.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16'I'll meet the craftspeople who create these perfect miniatures...'
0:02:16 > 0:02:18You open the door of your doll's house
0:02:18 > 0:02:21and everything is ordered, everything is beautiful.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Nobody's trashed the living room, or used the last of the milk.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27'..and find the ardent collectors
0:02:27 > 0:02:31'willing to pay big money for tiny objects of desire.'
0:02:31 > 0:02:34My grandsons just shake their head at me.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49MUSIC: Sunny Goodge Street by Marianne Faithfull
0:02:50 > 0:02:53'I'm on my way to somewhere that means a lot to me.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03'This is Shaw Farm, in Wiltshire.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11'This is where my interest in dolls' houses really took hold.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19'I've been coming here since I was a little girl.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45'Shaw is home to Pat Cutforth.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50'She's been building dolls' houses for many years.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53'She passed on those skills to me when I was a child
0:03:53 > 0:03:54'and changed my life.'
0:03:56 > 0:03:59I found this little bed that I made...
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Oh, I don't know how old I was when I made this - maybe eight?
0:04:03 > 0:04:06That's great, cos it's strong and it's got a sort of...
0:04:06 > 0:04:09It's got a classic Lauren look about it, hasn't it?
0:04:09 > 0:04:11Even as crude as it is,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13it still somehow looks like...
0:04:13 > 0:04:16It does look like my work, it's true.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20That was sort of my first success on my own.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25I remember one of the first times I ever came
0:04:25 > 0:04:28and you got me to draw, um...
0:04:29 > 0:04:33..the piece of furniture that I wanted to make.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35And then, I was very surprised,
0:04:35 > 0:04:40because you suggested I cut it out on your band saw.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43I don't know, it was just... It was very nice to be trusted in that way.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47I think the fun was seeing you'd be able to create
0:04:47 > 0:04:50what you wanted to create, using slightly more sophisticated tools.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54MUSIC: Happly Place by The Jesus And Mary Chain
0:04:54 > 0:04:58'Pat is the one who first gave me confidence in my ideas
0:04:58 > 0:04:59'and the skills to realise them.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03'I've been coming here since I was seven years old.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11'Pat's workshop is a miniaturist's delight,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13'filled with everything you could need to build
0:05:13 > 0:05:16'the doll's house of your dreams.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22'A room full of workbenches and power tools isn't the first thing
0:05:22 > 0:05:24'that comes to mind when you think of dolls' houses...
0:05:26 > 0:05:29'..but this is where I found out that there are few limits
0:05:29 > 0:05:31'to what can be achieved with imagination.'
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I've just been looking. I know I've got some small scraps...
0:05:45 > 0:05:48The physical making of things...
0:05:48 > 0:05:51is of course, part of the fun of it
0:05:51 > 0:05:53and the creativity, but there's also
0:05:53 > 0:05:57just a creativity of looking at it
0:05:57 > 0:05:59and imagining what you might do.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04I just found it a very calming thing to work on -
0:06:04 > 0:06:09because you're allowing yourself to move out of the real world,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11into a space where you can think in a different way
0:06:11 > 0:06:13and you can create in a different way.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32'Pat built her own doll's house to fulfil a childhood dream...
0:06:34 > 0:06:35'..and this gave me the belief
0:06:35 > 0:06:39'that I, too, could design my own miniature worlds.'
0:06:39 > 0:06:43Mum says we can't do anything until our bedroom is all clean and tidy.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46But it is all clean and tidy.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49'When I begin a story, one of my first questions is,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53'"What sort of world do these characters live in?"'
0:06:53 > 0:06:54It's not a mess, Charlie.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57It's properly spread out -
0:06:57 > 0:06:59for playing!
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Ah, I knew it would be there.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05'I imagine Charlie and Lola living in this Scandinavian world.'
0:07:05 > 0:07:06Perfect.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10I became obsessed with Scandinavia as a child,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13because I loved Lundby dolls' houses.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16'These 1970s Swedish houses
0:07:16 > 0:07:19'had electric lights and modern interiors.'
0:07:20 > 0:07:23They were so clean and beautiful
0:07:23 > 0:07:25and lots of low hanging lights
0:07:25 > 0:07:27and lots of bright colours,
0:07:27 > 0:07:29lots of orange
0:07:29 > 0:07:32and bold, geometric patterns.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36In Charlie and Lola's kitchen,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39you can see the light hanging low over the table,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41you can see lots of white,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43lots of wood.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59'Quite often, if I get stuck doing a picture,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01'I'll go and rearrange the doll's house, instead.'
0:08:04 > 0:08:08A room, whether in a doll's house or in a picture book,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12can give you so many clues about a character
0:08:12 > 0:08:14and about the life they live.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19'Here's a poodle, who's gone to the psychiatrist's office.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24'The psychiatrist is very earnest and worthy,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27'which I suggest with this Hessian texture on the walls.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34'I wanted to show the wealth of this family
0:08:34 > 0:08:37'and to give the idea of a very splendid room,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40'so I played with the scale, just like in a doll's house.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44'These tiny little people
0:08:44 > 0:08:47'are dwarfed by these huge great doors.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59'The collage technique in those pictures is something I use a lot...
0:09:01 > 0:09:04'..because it means I can put off making a final decision.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09'I can keep moving the pieces around,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12'just as I rearrange the furniture in a doll's house.'
0:09:16 > 0:09:17LOLA HUMS
0:09:20 > 0:09:21ALARM CLOCK RINGS
0:09:21 > 0:09:25CHARLIE GASPS Lola, you're supposed to be tidying!
0:09:25 > 0:09:26CHARLIE HUFFS
0:09:28 > 0:09:30'When I was a little girl,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32'my mother would sometimes take us
0:09:32 > 0:09:34'to the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood.'
0:09:37 > 0:09:40You used to walk in these big doors
0:09:40 > 0:09:43and straight into...a sort of hall.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50There would be these beautiful dolls' houses
0:09:50 > 0:09:53and you'd sort of walk through them.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01As a child, I could think of nowhere I'd rather be.
0:10:04 > 0:10:09Because dolls' houses, for me, were just amazing things.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Just looking in at these worlds...
0:10:11 > 0:10:14So I'd get quite sort of...
0:10:14 > 0:10:17heart pounding feelings,
0:10:17 > 0:10:19when I went...
0:10:19 > 0:10:21When I walked in and looked at them all.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30The Tate House, I probably liked the most -
0:10:30 > 0:10:34the way that each room has its own door,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36that you can open individually...
0:10:36 > 0:10:39and revealing one part of the house
0:10:39 > 0:10:41and then hiding it away again.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03'The Tate Baby House dates from 1760.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07'It was probably built for a rich Cambridgeshire family,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10'as a little replica of their own house.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15'That's why they were known not as "dolls' houses",
0:11:15 > 0:11:17'but as "baby houses" -
0:11:17 > 0:11:20'a miniature version of the real thing.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25'It was passed down through the family,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27'from mother to daughter,
0:11:27 > 0:11:32'until it was donated to the museum in 1929,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34'by Mrs Flora Tate.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41'The Tate Baby House is the star of the Small Stories exhibition
0:11:41 > 0:11:43'at the Museum of Childhood.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49'Narrowing the museum's collection of 100 dolls' houses
0:11:49 > 0:11:51'down to 12 for the show
0:11:51 > 0:11:54'was the job of curator, Alice Sage.'
0:11:55 > 0:11:57We wanted to choose houses
0:11:57 > 0:12:01that showed a range of different lifestyles from the past,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04from the incredible Tate Georgian mansion,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07through to a little terraced house,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09from around 1900.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13I find the Tate House really interesting,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16because it really feels like a doll's house -
0:12:16 > 0:12:19something you could actually get in your little hands
0:12:19 > 0:12:21and move things around.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25And the other thing that always makes a doll's house for me
0:12:25 > 0:12:27is the difference in scale.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30So, when you look in the bedroom,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32you've got this tiny lady upstairs,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34who couldn't possibly lift that jug -
0:12:34 > 0:12:37and yet, it doesn't matter.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39It just gives such a lovely atmosphere and I think that
0:12:39 > 0:12:43this is what attracted me when I was a child, to this house,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45because it feels like a doll's house,
0:12:45 > 0:12:47because of that reminding you, all the time.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Although it's beautifully crafted
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and you've got the wonderful panelling and the chandelier
0:12:52 > 0:12:55and everything so beautifully made,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57but then, you have a giant teapot
0:12:57 > 0:13:00and a giant warming pan for the bed.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04What I love about it is that...
0:13:04 > 0:13:08it was in the same family for 120 years,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11so these things didn't all appear at once,
0:13:11 > 0:13:13all perfectly in scale with each other
0:13:13 > 0:13:15and go into the house and that was it,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18but they were accumulated, over years and years.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23You're making a collage, almost, of different memories,
0:13:23 > 0:13:24different associations -
0:13:24 > 0:13:27they might have been gifts from friends -
0:13:27 > 0:13:30and just because something doesn't quite fit,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33doesn't mean that it doesn't have a special place
0:13:33 > 0:13:36in this house that you're making.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39There's something so lovely about it evolving,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41like a real house evolves -
0:13:41 > 0:13:43and you see the personality.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Yes, and that's exactly what I wanted to bring out in the exhibition
0:13:46 > 0:13:50with this house is, yes, it's a fine 18th-century baby house,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52but it's also a family heirloom
0:13:52 > 0:13:56and a significant object to the women who owned it and...
0:13:57 > 0:13:59..it had the tradition of being passed down
0:13:59 > 0:14:02to the eldest daughter of each generation.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05I can't help feeling that's a really lovely thing,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07because it means it's been loved
0:14:07 > 0:14:10and it's grown with the family and it's sort of evolved.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28'The exquisite detail in these dolls' houses
0:14:28 > 0:14:31'gives us many clues to how people once lived.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41'This detail also served a practical function.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47'A doll's house was often a way of instructing young women
0:14:47 > 0:14:49'in the art of running a home.'
0:14:51 > 0:14:53One of the earliest examples of a doll's house
0:14:53 > 0:14:56being used for educational purposes
0:14:56 > 0:14:59was Anna Kofelin's house.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02And she lived in Germany, in the early 1600s
0:15:02 > 0:15:06and she sold it explicitly as a learning tool
0:15:06 > 0:15:08for your daughters, or your maids.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Bring them along, teach them
0:15:11 > 0:15:13what all the different things in the kitchen are for,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16how you use them, how you clean, how you cook...
0:15:16 > 0:15:20And this miniature house was her teaching tool.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24The house doesn't survive, but we have her adverts.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27She wrote, "So look you, then, at this baby house,
0:15:27 > 0:15:28"ye babes, inside and out.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32"Look at it and learn well ahead how you shall live, in days to come.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35"See how all is arranged in kitchen, parlour and bedchamber
0:15:35 > 0:15:37"and yet, is also well adorned.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41"See what great number of chattels a well-arrayed house does need."
0:15:44 > 0:15:47'A doll's house is a miniature version of reality...
0:15:49 > 0:15:51'..but a very peculiar version.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57'This is something they have in common with fairy tales.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04'So when I decided to retell the story of the Princess And The Pea,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07'I took my inspiration from a doll's house.'
0:16:10 > 0:16:12This is the Nuremberg House
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and it dates back from 1673
0:16:15 > 0:16:18and there's a...
0:16:18 > 0:16:23story, obviously, of the people who owned it...
0:16:23 > 0:16:25and who were meant to be living here.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29It belongs to an apothecary and so...
0:16:29 > 0:16:32everything in there is a clue to their wealth and what they do.
0:16:35 > 0:16:36But I suppose, for me,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39it's much more to do with the atmosphere -
0:16:39 > 0:16:41that it's generated by the use of the wood -
0:16:41 > 0:16:44everything seems to be made of wood.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47MUSIC: Svefn-G-Englar by Sigur Ros
0:16:49 > 0:16:54It so strongly gives you the sense of a German house...
0:16:54 > 0:16:56and a sort of fairy tale house.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13When I was doing Princess And The Pea,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17I was really trying to conjure up this sort of feeling, I think.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21And when I look at this bed upstairs
0:17:21 > 0:17:23and it's all on its layers
0:17:23 > 0:17:26and the mattresses are very, very high
0:17:26 > 0:17:29and the drapes containing the little bed,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31so it's almost like a room.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34It's very much like The Princess And The Pea's bed.
0:17:43 > 0:17:44'The Princess And The Pea
0:17:44 > 0:17:47'was a collaboration with photographer Polly Borland.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52'I used doll's house building techniques
0:17:52 > 0:17:55'to create the room sets, which Polly photographed.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03'The floor is made of cardboard,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05'scored to look like wood.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09'The panelling on the walls is made of cereal packets.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14'But some things had to be perfect.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19'The most significant item in the book
0:18:19 > 0:18:22'is the teacup that the prince drops
0:18:22 > 0:18:26'when he first catches sight of the beautiful princess.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32'I found my fairy tale teacup
0:18:32 > 0:18:35'in the workshop of miniaturist Karen Griffiths.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40'Karen trained as a ceramicist at St Martin's School of Art.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44'She makes gorgeous porcelain miniatures
0:18:44 > 0:18:47'for dolls' houses and collectors,
0:18:47 > 0:18:51'using exactly the same process as for full-sized pieces.'
0:18:52 > 0:18:55When I came into the business in 1981,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59everything was Victorian, maybe Edwardian, a bit of Georgian -
0:18:59 > 0:19:02and I blame Mrs Bridges.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04It's all that Upstairs Downstairs thing
0:19:04 > 0:19:06that was so popular at the time
0:19:06 > 0:19:08and we kind of developed this national nostalgia
0:19:08 > 0:19:10for things Victorian -
0:19:10 > 0:19:12a life that we saw as more simple
0:19:12 > 0:19:14and more ordered, you know?
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Forget child labour and rickets, we saw the cook and the nanny.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21On the one hand, it's the wish-fulfilment thing
0:19:21 > 0:19:23but on the other hand, it's the escaping thing.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25It's like, you have a rotten day at work,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28you come in, you open the door of your doll's house
0:19:28 > 0:19:30and everything is ordered, everything is beautiful.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32Cook's in the kitchen, making apple pies,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34the children are in the nursery
0:19:34 > 0:19:37and nobody's trashed the living room or used the last of the milk!
0:19:39 > 0:19:40That's so true!
0:19:41 > 0:19:44'Craftsmanship like this is expensive.'
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Most of it was gone, actually. You really had a huge run on it.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52I saw it sitting there earlier.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55'A complete dinner service by Karen costs several hundred pounds.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59'But there is no shortage of collectors
0:19:59 > 0:20:01'willing to save for such treasures.'
0:20:01 > 0:20:04If you've got tickets, can you come through this side, please?
0:20:04 > 0:20:07'I've come to the Kensington Doll's House Festival,
0:20:07 > 0:20:12'where Karen is one of over 175 different exhibitors.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15MUSIC: Crystalline (Omar Souleyman Remix) by Bjork
0:20:16 > 0:20:18'The festival has been going for 30 years.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24'It attracts over 5,000 collectors to the twice-yearly shows.'
0:20:25 > 0:20:27I love miniatures,
0:20:27 > 0:20:31I absolutely adore miniatures.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33'I often go, simply to look.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38'I find it so interesting to see what people create.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46'Whenever you think you've seen everything,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48'along comes another exhibitor,
0:20:48 > 0:20:50'making something you've never seen before...
0:20:52 > 0:20:55'..from a miniature guinea pig,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58'to a teeny weeny chemistry lab.'
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Ah, that's what I want. That little blue...
0:21:00 > 0:21:01OK, I'll get a little bag for you.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03Oh, lovely. Thank you.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09We've been making miniatures for about ten years.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12We make electric meters,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14car batteries, chargers...
0:21:14 > 0:21:16There's a dance set record player...
0:21:16 > 0:21:19About 250 items.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24It's a world where people can lose themselves
0:21:24 > 0:21:26in what is a wonderful hobby.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29'I've brought my goddaughter Delfina to the show
0:21:29 > 0:21:31'for the first time.'
0:21:37 > 0:21:39She's a very funny looking one, isn't she?
0:21:39 > 0:21:43'There's so much to see, it's such a spectacle -
0:21:43 > 0:21:46'and Delfina seems to be utterly enchanted.'
0:21:46 > 0:21:49- We could just stay here for hours. - I know, couldn't you?
0:21:49 > 0:21:50I do, usually.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54So shall we go and look for a doll, then?
0:21:54 > 0:21:57They're sweet.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01- I like her, she looks... - Yes.- I like her shoes.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Oh, yeah - look at them. They're beautiful.
0:22:04 > 0:22:05She's like...
0:22:05 > 0:22:08- Have you fallen in love with her? - Yes, I have.- OK.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12- Well, let's get that one. - You sure?- Yes.- Thank you.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15OK, so we'd like this one, please.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21'You can spend a lot of money at the Doll's House Festival -
0:22:21 > 0:22:25'and it will all fit in the tiniest little bag.'
0:22:31 > 0:22:34It's just the workmanship in it.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36To me, it's just absolutely wonderful
0:22:36 > 0:22:39that somebody can actually do something like this.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52These bulbs are used in the aircraft industry
0:22:52 > 0:22:55and they will give you a life of around 10,000 hours.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01'But what is the enduring appeal
0:23:01 > 0:23:04'for collectors of dolls' houses and miniatures?
0:23:04 > 0:23:06'I'm going to ask Philippa Perry
0:23:06 > 0:23:10'for the psychotherapist's perspective on this.'
0:23:10 > 0:23:13So, Philippa - why do we need dolls' houses?
0:23:13 > 0:23:16If we have a doll's house,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20we can make that a sort of mirror for our internal life.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22We have our internal life and...
0:23:22 > 0:23:24Is it real, is it fantasy?
0:23:24 > 0:23:27But we can make it real, in the doll's house.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30So what would you say is the appeal of collecting?
0:23:30 > 0:23:33It's because we get addicted to it.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35When we, uh...
0:23:35 > 0:23:39get that rush of satisfaction,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42we get a hit from it.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Once you get a hit of something, you want to keep getting a hit,
0:23:45 > 0:23:46so we become addicted.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51I always think dolls' houses are a slightly different collection
0:23:51 > 0:23:55than say...collecting beautiful vases, or something,
0:23:55 > 0:24:00because you are creating a world and you're creating, therefore, a story.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02And when you look at a doll's house,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05you're seeing it all as one image, in a way,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09and your eye naturally travels from room to room
0:24:09 > 0:24:11and up the stairs
0:24:11 > 0:24:13and you see somebody standing in a doorway...
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Or even if it doesn't have any characters in it,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19you're still seeing a little story.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23And you don't have to be four years old to really enjoy doing that.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26You can be 40 or 80 years old,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29to still really enjoy...
0:24:29 > 0:24:32this making of another world.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39'I've been building my own doll's house world in Pat's workshop
0:24:39 > 0:24:41'for 30 years, on and off.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46'It'll always be a work in progress,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49'but today, Delfina is going to be the first person
0:24:49 > 0:24:51'to see it all set up.'
0:24:53 > 0:24:55- Hello!- Hi!
0:24:55 > 0:24:57- Hello.- Nice to see you.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02- Yes, so this is my doll's house. - Oh, my gosh!
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Isn't that incredible?
0:25:05 > 0:25:08It is. It's so cool.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11- I like the kitchen.- Why? - I like the colour.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13There are loads of pots and pans and things and the...
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Yeah, all the little details.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Kitchens are always good though, in dolls' houses, don't you think?
0:25:18 > 0:25:20- Because there is so much...- And you can look at all the things in it.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24- Yep. And you've got lots of everyday things, which I...- And food.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27- I love looking at food.- I love looking at food. Look at those fish.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29- Can I take it out? - Yeah, they really are amazing.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Oh! They look real, actually.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40But is this wine?
0:25:40 > 0:25:44That is... They are some alcoholic beverages, there.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Oh, yeah.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48This is almost finished, now.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52- Almost finished? It looks finished. - Well, it's not quite...- This room?
0:25:52 > 0:25:54That room needs doing.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56What are you going to put in that room?
0:25:56 > 0:25:59- Are you going to put another bed? - I think that will be a bedroom.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01You could put a parent's bedroom in there.
0:26:01 > 0:26:02It could be, couldn't it? I know.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05MUSIC: Dry The Rain by The Beta Band
0:26:09 > 0:26:13The wallpaper is the same as the spare room in your house.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Yes, it's a miniature of my real house wallpaper.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Yeah? Did you shrink it?
0:26:20 > 0:26:21I did shrink it.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23I had a little piece of it,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26left over from when the spare room was wallpapered
0:26:26 > 0:26:28and then I reduced it down.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35'For me, the doll's house remains
0:26:35 > 0:26:38'somewhere in which to create and to experiment...
0:26:40 > 0:26:42'..a space for contemplation and escape.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47'When I step into the world of the miniature,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51'I feel I have stepped outside myself...
0:26:51 > 0:26:54'into a place that is the imagination, made real.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04A doll's house is like no other collection, I think.
0:27:04 > 0:27:09Because it's not about each individual thing,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13it's about the picture you're making with all the little components.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22And it's not about finishing it.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25That's not really the pleasure with a doll's house -
0:27:25 > 0:27:29it's not really about getting every single thing and going, "That's it."
0:27:29 > 0:27:31It's a living thing.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40And it might get handed down,
0:27:40 > 0:27:44passed on to relatives, friends, strangers...
0:27:44 > 0:27:46and they'll do something different with it
0:27:46 > 0:27:48and they'll change the wallpaper
0:27:48 > 0:27:51and they'll change the era and they'll change the dolls,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55but it's still a doll's house that's had a life before
0:27:55 > 0:27:57and it will have a life after you.