A Crafty Move

Our work last weekend centred on the corner of the town where, until now, there was but a pub and tea rooms. Over the past few months we have had several ideas as to what we should put here but I think, at last, it is finally taking shape.

We began by laying some more of the grey board. This raised the level of this area by two or three millimeters and it also allowed us to set into the card the ornamental pond and square gardens - of which more later. 

We then, carefully, removed the craft centre shops from their  position above the crawl-through near Gunnmere. This part of the layout is earmarked for future redevelopment  anyway so these shops would have to be moved at some point. It, therefore, made sense to move them now and have them form a part of the town. Also, since each shop is named after a member of the family, it seemed like a good move to put them where they could more easily be seen by everyone.

The ornamental pond, to the side of the shops, is by Harburn Hamlets and was also beside the craft centre in its original location albeit partially hidden by the road bridge. So, at least that, too, is now more prominent.

The garden square, meanwhile, is something that I purchased while in Brazil and is actually HO in scale. However, I loved it when I saw it and thought that it would make a lovely centre-piece for the 'new' craft centre, as well as being a memento of my trip.

As can be seen in the photos, there will also be a car park here to serve the craft centre and the town as well as the pub and tea rooms.

Both of these latter premises will have their own garden backing on to the river where customers will be able to sit and watch the ducks whilst eating and drinking.

Finally, we plan to create a play area for children where, currently, a blue ice cream van is parked. This should be interesting since we don't know, at the moment, how easy it is to create or buy swings and a roundabout etc.