Hampshire Castle Gets Lego Makeover

31 March 2012, 06:00

Basing House in Basingstoke is the latest tourist attraction to get a Lego makeover.

Work is almost complete at the Milestones Museum on the scaled model which will be 1/40 of the size of the house created entirely from Lego.

The London Eye and Stonehenge have both been transformed recently.

150,000 Lego bricks are being used to bring the Tudor castle to life which will cover almost 12.5x12.5 metres square in total.

The finishing touches are being put to the model this weekend. 

Duncan Titchmarch, the only certified Lego builder in the UK will be coordinating the build and will construct the model in small sections.

The scaled model will be built in four parts; Basing House (Norman Castle), Basing House (Tudor extension), the Great Barn house & gardens, and the walled grounds.

The creation has been built live in front of visitors on the 'showground' in Milestones Museum and will be on display there throughout the Easter holidays until it is moved to Basing House for display.

Executive Member for Culture and Recreation, Councillor Keith Chapman said:

"This is a really exciting project. Although other key landmarks and historic buildings across the UK having been transformed into Lego replicas, the Basing House model will be a first for Hampshire!

"Everybody has played with and enjoyed Lego at some stage in their lives and this is something that children and adults of all ages can appreciate.

"Basing House built from Lego will be another unique attraction that Hampshire has to offer, helping to support the local economy through increased tourism, which can be a particular challenge in the current economic climate."

Ed Diment, Director of Bright Bricks Ltd. said:

"Bright-Bricks have been asked to create all sorts of things out of Lego for our clients, but the Basing House model will be a unique challenge.

"We will be building a model of how the house looked in its heyday during the Tudor period and will be creating all the parts of the house and grounds on four huge dioramas."