Dolls house recommendations

[Mcginn]

I’m looking to buy DD3 a dolls house, have had a scour of the internet and have seen the Melissa and Doug and big jigs options. I’ve also looked in Argos and they seem significantly cheaper.

I’m happy to spend around £150-200 on it, but wonder if it’s necessary to get a good quality one? Opinions please, bonus points for links!!

ELC Rose Cottage is good, often you can get them second hand-I got mine for £50 from Facebook selling with a tree house, extra family, postman and all furniture.

Also Sylvanian Families are good houses and you can get all sorts of animal families if you're not bothered about the dolls being human.

I would honestly go secondhand for this kind of thing. And I'm not a stingy person at all, but my local FB group often has 'hardly played with' dolls houses in immaculate condition. They are significantly reduced and already assembled!

But if you do want to buy new, my girls loved Kidkraft ones. This one is a total bargain on Amazon. The advantage is that it will last her several years too, as they're quite tall and can accommodate Barbie sized dolls.
Kidkraft 65054 Chelsea Doll Cottage Wooden Dolls House With Furniture And Accessories Included, 3 Storey Play Set For 30 cm / 12 Inch Dolls https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003ADVR3S/ref=cmswwrcppapiglttfabcXKDDQM2SJ7Q8JX6M1TWZ??encoding=UTF8&psc=1

We have the John Lewis one plus all the matching furniture it's lovely and I do admit to buying it with one eye on it being a bit of a family heirloom and luckily I've just had twins so hopefully many more years of play - wait for a discount day towards Xmas and often get 10% or more discount. We topped up the furniture with fun bits from Amazon.

Some of the other ones can look a bit....gaudy and I don't think will age as well

Sorry OP, that particular Kidkraft model isn't suitable for Barbies. But others are!

We paid about £35 for an Asda one and found it really good however Melissa and Doug has never failed us either

There are lovely dolls houses on eBay and FB Marketplace. You’ll probably get a much better made house for less money.

Also jealous. I desperately wanted a doll’s house as a child and wasn’t allowed one. I started looking at them when I was pregnant, but I have had a boy. Maybe I’ll just buy myself one...

I got one from Argos. Cost me £35. Was great as a first dolls house. Super super sturdy and she loves it. Also came with little accessories! We will get her the proper Barrie one for Christmas now but only wanted to get a tester to make sure it got used just incase it just got left an it can be a lot of money to waste ! X

I bought DD’s for about £100 from a local antiques shop - proper Victorian old style. Wouldn’t fit Barbies though - she has her Sylvanian families in it instead.

@MaskingForIt my DD has the one I had as a child at my parents house, I barely touched the thing, I’m pretty positive she’s already spent more time playing with it in the couple of times we’ve visited since restrictions have eased!

Thanks for the recommendations will do a little more research :)