One of the highlights of our trip to the Isle of Wight was visiting Godshill Model Village. Our human last visited this village in the sixties!
Lots of photographs were taken of this wonderful place, most of which will be shown on Henry's blog, (later this week) but these are the ones that were taken that feature Hitty Madge who wanted to know when she could move to the village as she thought it was just perfect.
We hope you enjoy!
Knock, knock, knock...anyone home?
Ooh,, what pretty lace.
Get me to the church on time!
What interesting things this shop has.
Hitty Madge would have loved to have purchased some items from this shop!
This place is an absolute delight and we actually went back for another visit on the last day. It holds the same fascination as did all those years ago.
The planning, thought and care that went into building and establishing this village is incredible and the continuing care and maintenance of it is a testament to the place.
Just one photo of our morning out in Whangarei. This is taken by the Whangarei Basin/Marina. There is now a lovely walk around it but we didn't get a chance to do it unfortunately. The day was beautiful and we loved the way the clouds reflected in the water.
We made good progress to Kerikeri that same afternoon and arrived late afternoon and had our picture taken outside The Stone Store.
This is New Zealand's oldest stone building built between 1832 and 1836.
Next door is the Mission House, the oldest surviving building in New Zealand having been built in 1822
Both these buildings are beside the Kerikeri inlet, which is simply stunning.
There used to be a stone bridge here, but it was removed in 2008 after severe flooding. For the best as it turns out as the road used to run directly in front of the Stone Store. Now there is a bypass and it is a lovely tranquil area indeed.
The following day we visited Rewa's Village, a replica Maori Fishing Village and learnt a little about the history of such villages. Sadly it was a little 'tired' but the friendly lady at the entrance said they are working on restoring it. Let's hope they manage to do so as it is a fascinating place that has been a part of Kerikeri since the late 1960s.
This looked the perfect size for us if it hadn't been so high up off the ground!
Yum, we have heard food cooked in a Hangi is delicious but sadly we didn't get a chance to try any.
Imagine food cooked underneath here?!
We weren't sure we liked the sound of this, as we like birds, but it was a different time to what it was now and birds were an important part of their culture, lifestyle and diet.
The view looking back to the Stone Store and the Mission House.
An underground food store.
Us three girls sitting just outside it.
Peggy Sue & Henry got to sit in the canoe.
We look at the size of the oars.
Another view of the river with the Mission House and the Stone Store in the background.
Sitting on a post.
This was the perfect size for us and we would have loved to have brought it home with us!
Still at least we got to have a sit in it and imagine what it must have been like.
