The Longacres Garden Centre Guide to Making Your Own Lemax Display

Lemax Villages and Collections

The wonderful world of Lemax is full of quaint and adorable miniature homes and shops each with its own unique style. From simple lighted buildings to moving displays fitted with sound and light, all pieces come together to create a one-of-a-kind winter wonderland.

There are many collections included in the Lemax range, such as Caddington Village, Carnival, Santa's Wonderland and Sugar n’ Spice. Lemax displays can feature different components from the same range, or a mix of each range to create a story telling scene filled with many elements.

Caddington Village – Victorian inspired buildings with period features and timely characters to take you on a trip back in time.

Carnival – Filled with fun and laughter, these carnival inspired rides take you back to your childhood.

Santa's Wonderland – Bring the spirit of Christmas to your winter village with traditional festive scenes filled with hard working elves.

Sugar n’ Spice – All things sweet with cake shops, factories filled with tasty treats and buildings so tasty they will make your mouth water.

Lemax Accessories and Table Pieces

Bring your town to life with the addition of whimsical decorations, including bristle trees, pine tree sets and operating street lamps. Adding small details in and around your town helps to bring the whole look together. Further to accessories, small table pieces are great for space fillers between large buildings, and help to create a story within your display.

Shop Lemax table pieces at Longacres, here.

Shop Lemax accessories at Longacres, here.

Lemax Figurines

No village or town is complete without the residents going about their daily business. Add life into the story being told around your winter wonderland with the help of cheerful figurines.

Shop Lemax figurines at Longacres, here.

How to build your Lemax display

• Firstly, you will want to find an area where you would like to build your Lemax display, ensuring that you have ample space to fit all your buildings, table pieces and extra accessories. We recommend choosing a space that has easy access to a plug socket or extension cable – this will be key when powering your display later down the line!

Builders Note: To ensure easy clean up, we suggest putting down a sheet over your table to contain any smaller materials when it’s time to take your display down.

• To create height and levels to your village, you can try stacking books or DVD boxes on top of each other to create platforms for buildings to sit upon, giving the illusion of hills or cliffs. In our Longacres display, we found pieces of polystyrene worked well too!

• Starting with the largest buildings, begin to place them roughly where you would like them to sit. Working your way through all of your pieces, from largest to smallest, continue placing them in and around each other to create the start of a village appearance.
• As your village begins to take shape, you may want to adjust where some are sitting. Now is the perfect time to move pieces around until you have each building exactly where you like it.
• For buildings with lights, sounds and movement, you will want to ensure they are all plugged in. Start working your way around each building and plugging them in one by one. We recommend using a power adaptor or a moonlander four light string to limit the number of plugs you need.

Now that all your buildings are in place and lit up, you can begin with the decorating!

• Working from back to front, you want to start with putting down your base layer that will act as the ‘ground’ to your town. Using a small scoop or cup, take small amounts of substrate and begin filling around your displays. You will want to ensure it goes right up against the buildings for a cleaner look, which can be easily achieved by using a spoon to get into any small gaps! Don’t forget to bury any wires from your buildings as you go around your village.

Builders Note: You can use many forms of substrate including fake snow, wood shavings, moss or even small stones like the Longacres display. For an impactful display, you could use a combination of substrates to create different climates!

• Once you are happy with your base layer, you can start to fill in any gaps between the houses. Starting with small table pieces, fill in any large empty spaces and create small scenes within your village. You can also use these pieces to disguise any larger wires that may still be visible.
• To finish your Lemax display, add your final decorations such as bristle trees, street lamps and figurines. You can create mini forests using a mix of tree sizes, or place your figurines around your buildings to create a sense of hustle and bustle in your village.