Cockington Green [antikvár]

THE COCKINGTON GREEN STORY Cockington Green was named after the quaint little village of Cockington in Torquay, Devon. The first section of the Cockington Green display was opened to the public on 3/11/1979, following more than 6 years of work by Doug Sarah and members of his ^^family. In 1972, during a visittoEngland, the Sarah family visited __the Model Village at Babacombe near Torquay in Devon. They were so impressed that, when they returned to Australia - and as Doug was looking for something different and challenging to do - they decided to research the possibility of construction of a similar display in Australia. After about 12 months of research into the financial viability, model construction and availability of suitable plants and shrubs, the decision was made to proceed with the project. Working weekends and nights in addition to a normál job, Doug began to accumulate a stock of miniatűré buildings ready for the proposed site over the bordér of N.S.W., which was later changed to the present site. At about this time, the Sarahs decided to invite other members of the family to jóin a partnership to build the display. Brenda's mother and father, Marj and Bili Rose and Doug's sister and husband, Elwyn and Russ, joined them and over the next five years, they and son Mark worked on the display. A couple of years prior to the opening, daughters Sally-Anne and Melinda worked and contributed to the display. In June 1980, Doug's sister and brother-in-law left the business. Late in 1976, work commenced on construction of the Main Entrance building and landscaping the display. Since that time, the display has been expanded gradually along with other amenities. The picnic, B.B.Q. area, playground and steam train track were completed in early 1982 and the Parson's Nose Restaurant in late 1982. The Parson's Nose is the first part of the complex not constructed entirely by members of the family. Apart from the first two or three buildings constructed, all are 1/12th scale replicas of their full size counterparts in Great Britain. All are constructed from plans drawn from photographs. A variety of materials are used in their construction, mainly asbestos cement sheeting, fibreglass and steel. Very little timber has been used because of the weakness and poor maintenance characteristics when exposed to the elements in such small detail. In most cases, rubber moulds have been made of the desired part and then reproduced in resin. All doors, windows, bricks and tiles were made in this manner then fixed individually in place. In somé buildings, up to 8000 bricks and tiles have been "laid" on a building. At most times, a building under construction or being repaired can be seen in the workshop.