Family outing to Bekonscot model village

A TRADITIONAL wedding is in full swing at Greenhaily Church. Which is just as it should be, because this is an old world order, idealised in the miniature village of Bekonscot where the clocks all stopped in the 1930s. The model village, the oldest in the world, is liked by families with young children. The latter love the Iilliput experience of being giants in a small world; their parents en - joy revisiting vanished certainties. By the time we have worked our way found the hillside to the front ' of the church, the wedding has al - ready spilled into the churchyard, and the photographer is poised to recprd the happy day in black and white, or even sepia . like therest of Bekonscot the scene is at once familiar and strange Today 's couple would prob - ably marry in the windmill next to the church , or in the goalmouth of the football pitch in the nearby hamlet of Hantoa The children, Samuel and his

friend Alex Burrell, both eight are quick to spot the anomalies. The roads are there, but there are no street signs, directions, double - yel - low lines, traffic lights, rounda - bouts , one-way systems or speed humps. Indeed, there are very few cars. The houses look familiar, but where are the parking spaces, garag - es and satellite dishes? It's easy to romanticise the vi - s ion . Especially for any parent who has met herself driving in the oppo - site direction as she herded off - spring , belted-up in the back, on a wild-goose chase of extracurricular activities. I mean, the phone num - b ers have only three digits , for heav - en 's sake You want to call up Juan Coat the painter, on Bekonscot 636, and book him straight away , cowboy or not. (Older children...