Mechanical Memories Magazine

The House on the Hill
By Stuart Dale
Over the last few years, I have been touring the UK looking at the many vintage slot
machine arcades and museums. My visit to the vintage arcade at the House on the Hill
Toy Museum at Stansted Mountfitchet was long over due. So when Mrs Dale said
why don't we pack a bag and go off for a few days, I decided to put it on the list of
things to do.
The house on the hill toy museum is privately owned by farther and son Alan &
Jeremy Goldsmith and makes up part of the multi award winning Mountfitchet Castle
heritage complex. It offers a great day out for all the family and not just us 'slot nuts'.
The main part of the site offers you a chance to travel back in time to 1066 and see
how life was lived in this accurately reconstructed Norman castle and village. You are
free to roam in and out of the many houses and buildings contained inside the castle
walls. You will see the blacksmith at work in his forge ; the brewer in his brewery
making wine for the lord of the manor and ale for the workers, there are some things
never change. You also get the chance to pet and feed the many animals and birds that
roam free in the castle grounds, these include ducks, chickens, peacocks, deer, goats
and if you are very lucky, rabbits. Most are rescue animals that have been given a
better home at the museum, so don't forget to take the kids - they will love it.
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