Tis the Season

A boy in a blue coat drags a freshly cut Christmas tree home on a wooden sled while, behind him, a family is halfway through building a snowman outside the toy shop. The high street is lit up window to window – the antique shop, a bakery, a toyshop with its sign glowing – while the last of the sunset burns orange along the horizon under a deep navy sky.

It's a busy scene but not a chaotic one. Cobble Hill has laid it out in clear bands: dark sky up top, warm shopfronts through the middle, snow-covered street along the bottom, which gives you a sensible way into sorting the 500 pieces even before you start on the window details and the crowd of shoppers.

Good one to have on the table in December with a mug of something hot nearby – there's a poster included in the box if you want the reference handy while you work.