Will Self
- Kyren Burns
- 20 Sep 06, 02:42 PM
reveals his secret passion for something small and perfectly formed ...
The author and journalist Will Self has frequently been the source of controversey in the course of his career, most notoriously when he was sacked from during the 1997 general election campaign for allegedly snorting heroin in the toilet of the prime minister's election jet.
However he hides a darker secret, a strange fascination with model villages, in particular Bekonscot, Bucks.
, located in Beaconsfield, is the world's oldest model village.
Bekonscot is different from other model villages; this is an entire miniature kingdom stuck firmly in an idyllic 1930s timewarp. There are six little villages in a 1陆 acre miniature landscape of farms and fields, castles and churches, woods, lakes and rolling hills. Walking around, you鈥檒l tower over the tiny population enjoying the fun of the fair, beaches, zoo and tramway, or lazily watching the cricket on the village green. Each village is linked by one of Britain's largest public outdoor model garden railways.
We at Bekonscot really enjoyed the piece - hope you had a super time here. Interesting to hear how people deconstruct the concept of a model village, given we spend so much time building them, restoring them and writing about them...
We know Will is a regular visitor, but I didn't know that he actually wanted to be *buried* here.
Will, if you'd like to get in contact, perhaps we can find a suitable final resting place. Whilst your suggestion of being laid to rest on the grass and being pecked at by birds would be an interesting publicity generator, it might be unpopular with some of our visitors.
You might like to consider an alternative plot in our miniature graveyard. Please contact the Minster's Rector, Canon Ball, on Bekonscot 4291.
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