By 1933, it was opened to the public every Sunday between April and September with the railway running and every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon without the trains working.

[7][1]: 661  An article published in the National Geographic in 1937 praised the "flawless miniatures of wood and stone, metal, stucco, bright paint, and glass".

[1]: 649  Bekonscot, alongside Pendon Museum in Oxfordshire and Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, inspired a trend for model villages in British seaside resort towns such as Babbacombe, Southport and Southsea.

[5] The project is now composed of the fictitious villages of Bekonscot, Evenlode new town and colliery, Epwood, Greenhaily, Hanton, Southpool and Splashyng, which are linked together by the model railway.

The entire project closes over winter; smaller models are taken indoors, whilst larger buildings and the railway are refurbished on site.

[4][15][16] It represents an idealised version of traditional English villages and its brochure states it is a "little piece of history that is forever England".

[14]: 36 [17] Enid Blyton was a Beaconsfield resident and friend of Callingham; she set her short story "The Enchanted Village" in Bekonscot.

[7][12] Mary Norton was inspired by Bekonscot when she wrote The Borrowers Aloft and Will Self set his short story "Scale" in the model village.