The Miniatures
Miniatures related activities fall into two categories:
- You can just stop in to visit the museum collection. Allow 30-120 minutes for your visit depending on how serious an enthusiast you are. You may wish to combine your visit with a trip to the nearby caves (Les Grottes de Saulges), a walk along the river Erve, or a lunch at the Restaurant Le Canyon, all of which are just a 5 min walk away.
- You can organise to stay here with a group for a weekend or a week. Perhaps you would like to come with your miniatures club or a group of like-minded friends and have a workshop here. We can provide full or partial catering as required and recommend local restaurants. Or perhaps you would just like to make Le Domain des Hallais the centre for your vacation with family or friends. Visit our sister site www.leshallais.com for further details of the accomodation and things to do in the area.
The museum
The Mayenne Miniatures museum houses an extensive collection of dolls houses and room boxes built up over 45 years of international travel and collecting. The largest items is an eight-room medieval wizard's castle with furniture by noted artisans including Barry Hipwell and an armoury by Tony Knot. There is also a large 12-room 20th century family home in a Georgian house with American furniture dating back to the 1960s.
Shops include a teddy bear shop with more than 350 miniature bears, a 4-roomed 'Southwest' restaurant with gift shop featuring American Indian artwork and pottery from Arizona, a 2-room cat themed shop packed with hundreds of unusual items depicting cats, a large Alpine Christmas shop with furniture and decorative items by Karen Markland and other noted American and European artists, an elegant Edwardian hat shop, a market stall kiosk selling copper kitchenware, and a 1930s delicatessan.
Other roomboxes include the 'Elegant Entryway' scene built in a Brooke Tucker workshop, a Christmas fireside scene in a clock case, a map collecting gentleman's library, an English farmhouse kitchen, a modern office, a Victorian 'palmhouse' conservatory, and many other unique displays with fine scale work from all over the world. Recently added items include a ballet costume-mistress' workshop, 'The Year of the Cat' - a feline new year's party eve scene, a small vignette of Santa Claus at his toy-making workbench, an art deco vignette, a Russian palace bedroom, 'Kitty's dream Caribbean bedroom' and a 2 room Gothic gatehouse.
Smaller scale miniatures include a specially commissioned mouse house by Sans Robinson of Rosie Duck designs, two 1/144th scale houses by Nell Corkin, a thatched cottage and a three story 'poacher's cottage' in 1/24th scale, plus two roomboxes in 1/16th scale with vintage Strombecker furniture, as well as a small collection of houses by David Winter and Lilliput Lane.
The museum also displays a small collection of miniature teddy bears and currently has on loan a roombox and three houses made by the noted miniature plant artist Georgina Steeds. These include a florist's shop with a two storey flat above, a 1940s wartime house and a double fronted shop containing a butcher and baker, with a tea room and fortune teller's parlor above.
The displays have extra decorations added for major holidays such as Easter and Christmas. Several more houses and roomboxes are in preparation and will be added to the collection in 2010.
Several of these items have been featured in specialist collector magazines such as Nutshell News, Home Miniaturist, International Dolls House News and Dolls Hous, Dollshouse Magazine (profile in February 2010 issue) and in Dollshouse and Miniature Scene (see the February 2009 issue in particular), and Dollouse Magazine (February 2010).
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Edward's Bears |
The wizards' academy |
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Pas de Chat |
Farmhouse kitchen |
Events
Or why not organise your own event? If you teach and can find 6-12 students for your classes, contact us to reserve your dates. If you are interested in having a workshop specially designed for your group, we can find teachers for you. If you have a club that would like to meet here to work on a special project or as a base for a short break holiday, don't hesitate to get in touch.