Today we visited Penrith. The main reason for the trip was to visit the Lilliput Lane factory where tours are available. The trip down started early, the train left at 6:30am which arrived at Penrith 8:00am.
The moment we stepped off the train, we were amazed by the view of the Penrith Castle ruins straight across the road from the station. We started our day by walking around the castle.
Next we walked to the town centre, where we stopped at a bakery for a nibble and to read the newspaper. The first 5 pages or so were all about Barack Obama (no surprises there!). With the batteries charged we headed off to Lilliput Lane, which was about 25 minutes away on foot. The tour was scheduled for 10:30am and we arrived with plenty of time to spare.
The tour itself lasted about 1 ½ hours. Our guide was one the senior designers in their R&D department and has worked there 25 years. He was only too pleased to share his knowledge and experience with us. This went from designing the original in wax, to creating moulds, to creating plaster casts, then hand painting and detailing. It was very informative and interesting, and really gave me an appreciation of the effort involved in creating a model.
(Click on the images below for a larger view)
For all the detail in a model, the painting time is still only less than one hour per model.
It was only in the final stages of painting and packaging that the tour really illustrated a “production line”, especially seeing trays of the finished product.
With the tour finished, we sat outside the visitors centre to eat our sandwiches. There they have a house for both birds and squirrels to eat and shelter in. There was a red squirrel there, who is a regular, he was shy but made a few appearances to grab peanuts from the house. Red squirrels are even cuter than grey squirrels!
Moving on, we walked back to the town for window shopping. We also stopped for some scones with jam and cream, as you do in England.
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