by Burbie52, HSM team writer

I am a romantic at heart. I love the stories that Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters wrote. Books like Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice have been favorites of the female gender for generations, and in modern times have been the focus of many remakes by Hollywood and foreign film makers. These people lived in a gentler time, filled with propriety and charm and rules they had to live by or be social outcasts.  Now Lockwood has brought us a personal space and clothing line reminiscent of those days: the Abbey Hill Cottage.

A view from the garden

When you get into Home, be sure to stop by the  Abbey Hill Garden Party. It has its own charm and you will receive a nice painting for your wall as a reward. The Garden Party is Lockwood’s new public attachment to this private space, similar to what they did with the Prairie when they opened it up.

This new concept for a personal space stands alone in Home. There are other themed spaces you can get, but nothing in this time period. The space is large, and like you expect from Lockwood, high quality.  There is a wind blowing the tall grasses along the river bank you can walk along, the trees rustle and there is an incredible English cottage style house you can decorate. There is a huge English garden full of hollyhocks and a variety of flowers just outside your back door and a winding path that leads down to the river in the back to a built-in firepit with logs to sit on. All of this is set in a bucolic background filled with sounds.

As you can see in the video, this space lends itself to storytelling. There is a lot of detail in every area, from the small country church off in the distance in the front yard to the classic water wheel churning across the river from you. You will feel transported to another time.  I felt as though I needed a fishing pole; I wanted to sit there for hours, catching a stray trout or two for dinner. I love when a space makes me feel different, it shows character in the design and in the love that has been put into a space.

The houses interior is larger and roomy. There will be challenges when you want to decorate here, especially the kitchen or bath areas, as we are short on period pieces in Home. There are rewards given every day, much like the Whimsy Hollow, only without the game attached. How many isn’t completely known, but Lockwood has always been generous in that, so I expect quite a few.

Classic!

The house has several rooms in it, with many having fireplaces built in, and the ceiling are crisscrossed with wooden beams. There is a second floor with at least two possible bedrooms and a couple of smaller rooms as well. The style of the house is very like those found in many of the countryside villages in England, and as Lockwood is based in Nottingham, it is true to form.

The clothing offered is excellent as well. The empire waist dress is classic for this era and the hair and gloves are outstanding. The men are not forgotten here either, as they are given a great ensemble of clothing to compliment their female counterpart.

There is a variety of bundles available for this new group, including one that boasts eight different locomotion items, three horses, two silk fans and two parasols, as well as two companions, an Irish Setter and a lamb. They also have the cottage coupled with the clothing for either male or female for only $8.99, which is a bargain as the space alone is $7.99.

The Abbey Hill Cottage and clothing line is going to be a wonderful addition to Home’s pantheon of products and it offers that little something that sets it apart from others even if it lacks functionality — because it offers originality, style and beauty.

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