Belsay Hall and Gardens

The Belsay Hall LEGO build at English Heritage’s wonderful Belsay Hall and Gardens took place over Easter 2024. I was set the challenge of producing a large LEGO model of the site with the help of visitors over a nine-day event! Where to begin?!

For this LEGO build I spend a few weeks creating a base that mapped out the terrain, walls and the amazing gorge that visitors walk through on their way from the Hall to the Castle. I then produced kits-with-instructions for eleven of the buildings on the site, and three different styles of trees. When it came to getting people involved, they chose either a building kit which once built they placed in the right spot on the base, or a tree kit which they could place on any of the brown sections which marked woodland. There was also lots of loose plants, flowers and animals that visitors could place to really add detail.

The event was a great success! As expected, the LEGO kits of the buildings got built and dismantled over and over again, but the woodland areas grew nicely over the week. The event attracted people of all ages, with quite a few of the grownups getting involved!

The resulting model is being kept on display for years to come (once a display case has been sorted). The kits are not for sale but the instructions will hopefully be available for download should anyone wish to build them at home.