Sweetington Castle Library

Mythical Sweetington Castle

I have been fascinated by the mysterious “Sweetington” since I stumbled on his beautiful photographs on Flickr. Was this person a miniaturist, a photographer? Had I read the captions more carefully I would have know that Tim Sitford is both.

Sweetington Castle Sitting Room

Sweetington Castle is a actually a miniature stage set on which Tim Sidford makes constructions for photographic purposes. Tim tells the story of the Castle in his own words.

Library

“This was a lot of fun, but dragged on forever due to work commitments and that little thing called a ‘Social Life’, but mainly because I’m a terrible procrastinator and very easily sidetracked. I also spend a LOT of time surfing flickr – so many inspirational images! – and reading books on historic houses/interior design (well, I say reading…I mainly ‘read’ the kind of books with more pictures than words!!)”

Sitting Room

“The family have lived at Sweetington Castle for nearly 250 years, so inevitably a certain amount of clutter has accumulated. Lamps made from painted beads, nails and contact lens solution bottle tops. More beads on the ceiling and bookcases.

Lady Sweetington Boudoir

Lady Sweetington Boudoir

“John Fowler was a well know interiore designer in the ’30s and 40s. This room is my attempt at Fowler style. Well, that’s my excuse for playing with toys, anyway! The writing bureau is one of my favourite playmobil pieces…although I did paint it this morning to try and make it look a little less plastic. The large frames either side of the fireplace are playmobil…spare parts for the ‘Fairytale castle’ found on ebay.”

Sweetington Castle Drawing Room

Drawing Room

“Grand but cosy! It’s a nice place to sit and read a book in the evenings when the fire is lit, with a couple of dogs nearby, and Novello playing on the gramophone….Oh no! I have just realised what is missing: there should be a bell cord with which to summon Figgis for some sherry….Damn. Today I made the firescreen and painted the armchairs.”

Gallery

“Did you know that Sweetington Castle is the only one roomed palace in the world?!! 😉

Sometimes people ask me about scale….playmobil is roughly 1:18 scale. Ceiling height here is 22cm.

Not A Fantasy

“I believe the expression you are searching for will be Oh Em Gee! A lovely lady in Canada got in touch with me out of the blue and has asked me to design, decorate and furnish the interiors of this EXTRAORDINARY house (made by the amazing Edward Wright). As you can see it is huge – feels as if some sort of 18th century spaceship has landed in the living room!”

NOTE:

I’d love to see Tim’s studio. Can you imagine how many works-in-progress he must have? You may enjoy another article I wrote about Tim Sidford, “The Mysterious Sweetington”

Susan Downing, with Patrick Owens