Sylvanian Families Elegant Town Manor Review

Reviewed by Louise Totton

There is something about Sylvanian Families that somehow reminds me of Christmas. I used to wish for Sylvanian stuff every year for Christmas when I was a little girl, and my youngest daughter has carried on the tradition and loves her Sylvanian things with all her heart! She’s even got a few of my things – they’ve lasted around thirty years and they still look as good now as they did then! I think that’s one of the reasons that I like to get the kids Sylvanian toys – they remind me of my childhood and they really do stand the test of time.

Our Sylvanian collection mostly consists of figures and furniture, although we do have a small house and a car, but my daughter was desperate to get her hands on a slightly bigger property so that all of her figures would be able to live together! So, she was more than happy to help out when we were asked to try out the Elegant Town Manor from the Sylvanian Families range.

The Elegant Town Manor is a rather striking looking building that wouldn’t look out of place on the finest Parisian street. It is a beautiful lilac manor town house, featuring golden filigree details, double gold front doors and an imposing spiral staircase down the outside of the building. Like lots of Sylvanian products, the rear of the property doesn’t have a back, making it super easy for kids to access the play area. Having said that, before you can start playing with it, you have to get it unboxed and built – my least favourite part! Included in the box is:

• The main part of the house, already attached to the base
• The high ceiling / roof piece
• Self-standing spiral staircase
• Chandelier
• Railings
• Two extra floor pieces
• Window trims

The Sylvanian sets don’t seem to be anything like as bad to put together as some of the toys that that the kids have and this one, true to form, was also a doddle. The manor house is mostly assembled already and is attached to its base, so assembly is just a case of sitting the roof on top, adding the railings, bannisters and window trims (these just snap into place), and placing the extra floor pieces. The ceiling/roof piece just sits on top of the building – it’s perfectly secure for play, and being able to remove it means that it is much easier to store in our playroom.

The staircase also doesn’t attach into the house, which I was initially a bit disappointed about – until my daughter showed me how to play with it! It’s actually really useful as the staircase is completely self-standing, and the house is designed so there are a number of places where the staircase can be used. This increases the playability of the house and makes the layout far more flexible for the child to play with – the staircase can be used on the exterior front of the house, round the back as an internal staircase as well as round the side of the house. The additional floor pieces work in a similar way, and my daughter had them set up as either extra interior space or as a front patio space.

The Elegant Town Manor is available either on its own or as part of a giftset. We were sent the single manor, which means that it comes without any characters or furniture. The giftset option includes Chocolate Rabbit Older Sister character as well as some furniture. We do have some Sylvanian furniture and figures, so the lack of accessories wasn’t a massive problem, although I do think that the price that this is, it would be nice to have something included with the building, even if it was just a figure or two – the giftset option is definitely better value when you realise that to play with the toy, unless you already have spare accessories, you will need to buy extra bits.

This is a lovely quality toy, and really gets the kids’ imagination working! There’s not much that’s nicer as a parent than listening to some of the pretend play that the kids get up to, and this has definitely sparked my daughter’s imagination! It would make a superb Christmas present for any child who loves Sylvanians as much as my daughter does, or as a first Sylvanian set if you go for the giftset option

Rating: 4/5 

RRP: £59.99

Available to buy from Amazon here.