From 4 March 2017 we invite you to take a peek behind closed doors and discover the Small Stories of twelve of the V&A Museum of Childhood's most treasured dolls' houses and their tiny inhabitants.

Through stories of the dolls' houses, which span the past 300 years, visitors will be taken on a journey through the history of the home, everyday lives and changing family relationships.

The small stories of each house will be brought to life by the characters that live or work there. Day-to-day life will be illuminated through tales of marriages and parties, politics and crime. Each house will be displayed at a particular time of day and visitors can use buttons alongside the showcases to activate the narration and light up each character as they talk.

The exhibition encompasses country mansions, the Georgian town house, suburban villas, newly-built council estates and high-rise apartments. Displayed chronologically, the houses will also show developments in architecture and design.

Highlights include:

• The Tate Baby House dating from 1760 was owned by five or six generations, passed down from mother to eldest daughter. It includes original wallpapers and painted panelling in the style of Robert Adam and a lying-in room for a pregnant doll. The story of this house centres on the rising status of three generations of Georgian women.
• The Killer House was a gift from surgeon John Egerton Killer to his wife and daughters in the 1830s. This Chinese-style cabinet is lavishly appointed with gilded wallpapers, four-poster bed and liveried servants. The story centres on the servants' ongoing struggle for cleanliness and hygiene in the industrial city.
• Whiteladies House was designed by artist Moray Thomas and was built in the 1930s. It corresponds to the handful of Modernist country villas emerging in Hampstead at the time. The story centres on a house party and the house features chrome furniture, a cocktail bar and artworks by British Futurist Claude Flight as well as a swimming pool and loggia.
• The Hopkinson House is based on the houses of London County Council's 1930s suburb, the St Helier Estate. The interiors show a Second World War-era family in intricate detail, poised for an air-raid, with miniature gasmasks, ration books and torches for the blackouts.
• Kaleidoscope House's multi-coloured translucent walls are filled with miniature replicas of Ron Arad, Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger furniture and artworks. It is home to a design conscious step-family living in the new millennium. The house was designed by Laurie Simmons.

The finale of the exhibition is Dream House 2017, featuring magical, miniature rooms specially created by Norfolk architects, artists, makers, students, and school groups. Twenty two rooms have been selected to be part of the display, capturing the aspirations and imaginations of their creators. Contributors include Norfolk-based artists like Matt Reeve and Sarah Beare, companies like Hudson Architects, and group collaborations from the likes of Wymondham High School Art Club and Ancient House Museum History Club. Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind are exploring the creation of a special sensory room for the display while Thomas Horsley, an artist with a background in architecture, and his wife Sandy, who trained in illustration and currently works for accountants Larking Gowen, are planning contrasting rooms.

The exhibition will also feature a play area with dolls' houses and furniture for children (and grown-ups!) to arrange to their hearts' content and construction toys to build their own.

Meanwhile Norwich Castle's sister museum, Strangers' Hall, will present a complementary programme of events and displays, drawing on the museum's extensive toy collections. Visitors will be able to see the newly conserved Norwich Baby House in the Strangers' Hall Toy Room, alongside delightful examples of dolls' houses, dolls' furniture and miniatures arranged for the duration of the show only throughout our period room settings. A special trail 'Small Stories at Strangers' Hall' will help visitors to discover them all.

The Norwich Baby House is one of the earliest surviving baby houses, dating from the 18C. The term 'baby house' refers to these early examples which usually belonged to owners of substantial properties who commissioned architects to design them. They were furnished by adults for interest and amusement rather than as playthings for children. Arranged inside were high-quality miniatures items made by toymen or imported from Germany or Holland as well as home-made furniture and dolls. To coincide with the exhibition, the Norwich Baby House is being specially conserved by the NMS conservation team and LED lighting installed to bring the interiors to life.

A full programme of events for all ages linked to the exhibition includes our popular Tuesday lunchtime talks series, Family Saturdays and school holiday activities, and special workshops encompassing everything from drama, art, creative writing and crafts. Highlights include:

For children and families:

• Saturday 6 May, Workshop for Children, Stories from a Dolls' House Workshop: A special workshop for children age 6-12 years with UEA Drama students.
• Tuesday 4 April & Monday 10 April, Small Stories Live!: Create a mini-adventure for your character doll and animate this small story to produce a short film.
• Thursday 13 April, Mighty Miniatures: Join expert maker Denise Ames in her mini-workshops, and construct and embellish your own piece of dolls' house furniture.

For adults:

• Saturday 4 March – craft and miniatures fair at Strangers' Hall.
• Friday 5 May & Saturday 13 May, Workshop for Adults, Art in Miniature: Join Garry Pereira in this masterclass for beginning or improving artists. Find out how to reproduce and scale down a favourite painting ready to hang in your own miniature world. All materials provided, but feel free to bring your own.
• Thursday 18 May, Talking Textiles (Norwich Castle Study Centre), The World in Miniature: Showcasing the talents of apprentices in their samples, including plain sewing samplers such as miniature shirts, gloves, drawers, finely embroidered mittens, caps and bootees.
• Six Tuesday lunchtime talks including Cathy Terry, Senior Curator of Social History at Norfolk Museums Service, Jan Roberts from the Dolls' House Society and Lisa Little, NMS Assistant Curator, Costume and Textiles.
• Workshops on dolls' house skills with experts at Strangers' Hall including straw-work and feather-work dolls' house furniture and how to make miniature books with superb detail.

Cathy Terry, Senior Curator of Social History at Norfolk Museums Service said: “We're very excited to be bringing the V&A Museum of Childhood's wonderful Small Stories exhibition to the City. The way the show has been curated is really imaginative, and playful, in keeping with the subject. Research for the exhibition uncovered new characters and stories in the histories of these objects, and the V&A curators have used them to bring the houses to life in a fun and imaginative way. The experience of peeking into the tiny rooms and seeing all the meticulous detail is fascinating for children and adults, and hopefully everyone will discover something new. We're also really excited that the exhibition gives us a chance to showcase Strangers' Hall's marvellous dolls' house collection which are very high quality – one of the City's treasures which deserves to be better known.”

Margaret Dewsbury, Norfolk County Council's Chairman of Communities, said: “We're delighted Norwich Castle is working with the V&A Museum of Childhood once again. Four years ago their Magic Worlds exhibition proved a huge hit with families and we're expecting Small Stories to be equally popular. Norwich Castle's record of working with national museums to bring fantastic exhibitions to the City is something to be proud of and an important part of Norwich's rich visitor offer.”

The exhibition will be formally opened at 6pm on Friday 3 March by dolls' house expert and star of The Antiques Roadshow, Fergus Gambon.

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For further PRESS information about the exhibition, including images and requests for interviews please contact:

Melanie Cook, +44 (0)1603 727939, melanie.cook@visitnorwich.co.uk

Notes for Editors:

1. Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery is part of Norfolk Museums Service, a multi-award winning service comprising ten museums and a study centre. It is one of only 21 Major Partner Museums in the country receiving substantial revenue investment from Arts Council England. Norfolk Museums Service is a partnership between Norfolk County Council and Norfolk's district councils, funded through council tax, earned income and grants. http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Visit_Us/Norwich_Castle/index.htm

2. Strangers' Hall is part of Norfolk Museums Service. A rare medieval town house this atmospheric building was once home to the wealthy merchants and mayors who made medieval Norwich a great city, and has a wonderful collection of furniture, household objects and toys.
3. The V&A Museum of Childhood aims to encourage everyone to explore the themes of childhood past and present and develop an appreciation of creative design through its inspirational collections and programmes. The Museum is part of the V&A, housing the national childhood collection. The galleries are designed to show the collections in a way which is accessible to adults and children of all ages.
4. Fergus Gambon is the son of actor Michael and his interest in porcelain started when his father took him shopping as child when the purchase of a Spode coffee can sparked a life-long passion for antique collecting. Gambon trained and worked as a lawyer for a decade but found it boring. By this time he had also developed an interest in antique toys and dolls' houses. Eventually he got a job at Phillips auctioneers (now Bonhams) where he is a valuer and cataloguer.His most exciting find on The Antiques Roadshow was in Swindon in 2010: a carved wooden doll from 1740 valued at £25,000. Fergus is the ideal person to formally open Small Stories at Norwich Castle.
5. Published to accompany the exhibition, 'Dolls' Houses from the V&A Museum of Childhood'. (V&A Publishing, £14.99) by Halina Pasierbska is out in October.
6. Small Stories is supported by the Friends of the V&A, The Mercers' Company and The Leche Trust