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August 2026

If you’ve been following me on Instagram you will know that I’ve been ensconced in a huge museum project for the last year. In recent months it’s been possible to release the odd carefully chosen photo of work in progress, but this has – quite rightly – been under the watchful eye of the curatorial staff at ‘Trent Park House of Secrets’, who have not wanted me to let the cat out of the bag too soon and post lots of detailed images of the model of this large stately home, made to illustrate the vital part the house played in the events of the Second World War.

Well, the day has finally come when I can publish some more about this long and complex project. The story began of me back in 2024 when the newly formed charitable trust at Trent Park decided to commission an architectural model as a centrepiece display for their new museum and invited me to take a look at the building. The brief  was to create what they described as a ‘dolls’ house’, with  cut-away wall sections revealing interior spaces in the principal rooms and bedrooms. There was also a need to show the interior of the basement and its hidden secrets. All these areas had to include tiny figures.

As the miniature population grew the logic of the museum staff referring to the project as a dolls’ house became clearer. This was not the misnomer I had suspected at the start of the job. Designing the exhibit as an architectural model, the term seemed to lack the weight of seriousness required for the subject, but on reflection all the many weeks of work which went into making the house and basement were simply the backdrop to the inhabitants. The model now acts as storyteller and guide to the new museum and it is the figures in the model which bring the narrative to life.

The museum is now open and I recommend a visit to find out how the activities that went on in this house in Cockfosters played such a dramatic and vital role in the events of the Second World War. A wartime story to rival the work of the decoders at Bletchley Park, or the underground life of the Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall. For more details and information and to plan your visit ‘Trent Park House of Secrets’.