A locally made doll’s house

At Market Lavington Museum, we try to preserve the history of our village and the neighbouring village of Easterton and are always delighted to receive artefacts linked to local businesses and manufacturers. We have already seen our Honeychurch Doll’s House, made by the firm started by Gil and John Honeychurch in Market Lavington in the late 1960s. Fortunately, their doll’s houses were well made and ours, originally made for Gil’s mother, is sturdy enough to be played with by young visitors to the museum. So let’s take a look inside.

There are four rooms, furnished and inhabited by wooden dolls. The furniture in the house is not Honeychurch made, although the wooden circle, used as a mat, has a Honeychurch label underneath.

Gil’s husband, John, died and Gil later married Robin Brookes. Together, they directed Honeychurch Toys Ltd and employed several craftspeople and apprentices, working in Market Lavington and later selling the doll’s houses in their shop in Devizes.

We will look at some of their range of products in a future blog post.

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