The place behind the detail.

Doug and Brenda Sarah conceived the idea in 1972 after visiting miniature villages in Britain, and opened Cockington Green on 3 November 1979. It takes its name from Cockington, a village near Torquay in Devon.

The buildings of the British section were all built by Doug, as 1:12 scale replicas drawn from photographs of real buildings.

• Read the history→

The International Display opened its first stage in 1998. Its buildings, at scales from 1:18 to 1:100, were chosen and funded with embassies, high commissions, governments and community groups.

Most models are made of fibreglass and aluminium, with resin bricks, tiles and windows set in by hand; some buildings have as many as 45,000 bricks and take up to eighteen months to make.

The gardens were first meant only to set off the miniatures, but have become an attraction in their own right, with almost 35,000 annual flowers planted each year and dwarf trees chosen to stay in scale.

This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.

• Read the history of the gardens→
• Explore the timeline→