Hardwick Hall: Man builds Lego model of National Trust home

Hardwick Hall is a country house that was owned by Elizabeth I's contemporary Bess of Hardwick

A man has built a scale model of one of Elizabethan England's most significant stately homes - entirely out of Lego.

Dave Shaw, 53, from Mansfield, said he had been inspired by visiting Hardwick Hall, in Derbyshire, many times as a child with his parents.

Mr Hall said he used hundreds of bricks in his project

He said it took about three months to finish the build.

The National Trust, which owns the property, said it thought the hall's creator - Bess of Hardwick - would approve of his efforts.

Mr Hall reused a former Lego Colosseum set

Mr Shaw said the hall was the first major project he had made out of Lego.

He said he had used hundreds of bricks.

"I had been that many times I was pretty sure that I knew what Hardwick looked like, until I tried to build it and I didn't know what it looked like at all," he said.

Lego landmarks

The real Hardwick Hall is owned by the National Trust

Other Lego creations of well-known British landmarks include:

• In May, a scale model of Norwich Castle, made of nearly 5,000 pieces, went on display.

• Jonny Heald began building Nottingham Forest's City Ground during lockdown.

• In March, a father and daughter built a Lego replica of the helmet found at Anglo Saxon burial site Sutton Hoo.

He constructed it out of a Lego Colosseum set he owned.

"That's got a lot of bricks that are the right shade and colour but also the right sort of shape so that was my starting point," he said.

"Hardwick has got a lot of glass - I hadn't realised, until I got into it, just how much glass there was, so lots of additional window bricks had to be purchased.

"The architecture is unusual and that was really the challenge for building it in Lego."

Mr Shaw has displayed his work on a Lego ideas website where, if it gets enough public votes, there is a chance it will be considered for production.

Mr Shaw said he found the windows a challenge to construct

Mr Shaw said he planned to deconstruct his model and build something else.

"I would like to take it apart and use the same bricks and try other buildings, particularly local ones," he said.

"I quite fancy a go at Chatsworth House."

Denise Edwards, general manager for the National Trust at Hardwick Hall, said: "We are so pleased that Dave has chosen the hall as the influence for his creation.

"I can imagine how tricky this was, and we really appreciate his attention to detail - as seen by his improvised adaption of Bess's initials on the turrets.

"I think that Hardwick's Elizabethan creator, the forward-thinking Bess herself, would rather approve of his efforts."

A Lego Ideas spokesperson said: "We continue to be impressed by the cool creations and creativity shown by fans via the Lego Ideas platform."

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