Houghton Hall, Carlisle kicks off it’s late night shopping season on Thursday October 16th with a Christmas Extravaganza. Those attending the event can shop until 9pm and experience live music, festive refreshments and more. Of course The Dolls House Emporium shop will be open, so make sure leave enough time to start collecting those stocking fillers! For further information such as how to get there you can see our pages here and the Houghton Hall website here.

Dolls houses have been around for centuries now, although they really grew in popularity in the Victorian era and whilst the majority of dolls’ houses have pride of place in their owners’ full size homes, we’re sure that a few lie neglected.

Are you one of those people who has an old dolls house in the attic getting dusty or stuck in the basement getting damp? Have you considered the past glory that it may have enjoyed?

It’s a lot easier to restore a house than you might think, most wallpaper can be easily removed without damaging walls or in some cases repainted to come back to their former glory.

If you’re lucky enough to live near Luton there is a 10 week ‘Restore your Dolls’ House’ course, click here for more information. And there are books written on the subject should you wish to take it all on on your own, which we have to say is very brave!

Or maybe you are one of the fortunate few who have more to spend, you could check out Trevor Cain at www.dollshouserestoration.com for a real, artisan, lavish and extremely detailed work, which might end up looking better than new!

Almost 30 years ago, Jackie Lee and her then partner Adam Purser, got a crazy idea to set up a business making and selling dolls house kits. Now about to celebrate its 30^th Anniversary in 2009, The Dolls House Emporium has gone from strength to strength including developing some of the most recognisable dolls houses in the world, such as the Classical which appeared in the first catalogues back in 1985 and is still one of the leading sellers today.

As you’ll see from the images, the catalogue was produced to come out in March, unlike today’s run of September to August and the front cover wasn’t colour, in fact we didn’t get a full colour cover until 1987!

These days, The Dolls House Emporium is widely regarded as the world’s leading supplier of dolls’ houses and miniatures, a reputation won by it’s award-winning customer service and excellent website and continued by the exclusive designs and excellent quality of the products.

We’re all looking forward to celebrating our anniversary next year and to the surprises that we have in store for all our friends and colleagues. We hope you’ll still be along for the ride.

If you are new to The Dolls House Emporium, you may have missed the Dolls’ Eye Tour of Grosvenor Hall, this stunning 3-D tour is just one of the features on our great website.

Shrink down to doll-size and be guided through our grand Palladian Mansion, and have the features and highlights described to you, by the proud homeowner, Miss Alice.

The Dolls’ Eye Tour is a real treat for the whole family, and is just one of the exciting features at www.dollshouse.com

Yet another new addition to The Dolls House Emporium Website is the option to Rate and Review your purchases. This means that when you look at a particular product (let’s take that Red and White Striped Buggy item number 4238) you’ll notice a new button underneath ‘available now’ which shows the review or asks you to ‘be the first one to write a review’ for that product. So you can give them all a thorough evaluation and let all your enthusiast friends know what the good, bad and ugly things really are. And don’t be afraid to say what you think, we’re tough, we can take it!