Swiss Cottage, Osborne House
Nicholas Tucker peeps into royal Victorian childhood on the Isle of Wight.
The Swiss Cottage, in fact more a small chalet, lies half a mile from Osborne House down a delightful, leafy drive. Visitors to Queen Victoria's 'dear, beautiful Osborne' can either walk this distance or else take a ride in a mini-bus. Once there they will see the first prefabricated building of any size to he erected in Britain, its constituent parts shipped over from the Continent in early 1853. The foundation stone was laid that year on May 5th, Ascension Day, with each of the seven royal children first putting in some mortar then striking the stone with a hammer. Next year the newly furnished cottage was presented to these same children by Queen Victoria on her birthday.
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