November 30, 2025
|
0
I really think LEGO has found something special with its Gardens of the World series, itself a subsection of the Icons theme. But while 2023’s 10315 Tranquil Garden was a hit with an inspired, beautiful take on Japanese landscaping and architecture (you can read Jay’s review right here), I don’t think I’m alone in saying that 10359 Fountain Garden, which launched at the beginning of this year, fell a little flat by comparison.
Thankfully, the next in the Gardens of the World line is another wonderful glimpse into a serene and idyllic blend of nature and structure. LEGO Icons 11372 Autumn Cottage Garden is a superb brick-built getaway to somewhere I’d much rather be.
Coming in at US$119.99 / AU$179.99 / £99.99 and 1102 pieces, this set actually falls a couple of hundred pieces short of the other two sets, while running at roughly the same retail price (depending on region). But you’d hardly know it by the completed build, which bounces back from the rather sparse look of Fountain Garden with a wonderfully lush and organic-looking arrangement.
And yes – a January 1, 2026 launch for an Autumn set doesn’t really make a ton of sense, but it’s sure to offer a nice escape for those braving the high heat or low chills, depending on which hemisphere you occupy.
Check out the international pricing and regional product pages below:
Special thanks to the LEGO Group for sending this set over for review.
If you’re planning on purchasing or pre-ordering this set, please consider using the affiliate links in this post. We may earn a small commission with each purchase that helps support the work we do on the blog!
11372 Autumn Cottage Garden Set Details
Retail Price
US$119.99 / AU$179.99 / £99.99
Diving right in, the instruction book for this set kicks us off with a lovely intro from the design team as well as a look at the various flora and fauna featured in the set, including a detailed overview of the two bird species, a Eurasian Nuthatch and a European Robin. These are unique, printed pieces in the set, which is a nice touch where LEGO could easily have used existing bird elements and called it a day – the more subtle colours and recognisable plumage really help integrate these two birds into the scene.
I won’t spend too much time going over the intricacies of the build process in this review, as the real magic is in exploring and getting creative with the finished model, but I will kick things off with some praise for how much fun the bases of these gardens are to build.
Much like the Tranquil Garden, there’s a really great, gradual layering of the ground sections that winds up being quite a zen experience. As you progress up these almost topographical slices of various types of earth, the shape of the land starts to form, paths are cut and a river flows, all to lay the scene for what’s to come. Like the two garden sets before it, the outer rim is designed around the theme of the set, so here it’s a cobbled stone look that I think is the best example so far.
Before we get any further, there are also a few early bits of decoration for the garden, starting with this adorable gnome standing amongst some flowers. This is a lovely little build with a blank, tan minifigure head, white beard piece and a newly-coloured red hat piece sitting atop a basic, blue brick and black stud. It’s a really effective design for how simple it is.
Moving over to the river section, we get a frog sitting on some lily pads, a bench and lantern post, a little birdhouse and a smattering of flora. These yellow feather elements are used to represent willow leaves caught on the bank and floating in the stream, which is a great little touch. And what kind of a cottage garden would be complete without a snail slowly making its way around the nearest path?
Once the base work is done, the other crucial feature of this build is the cottage, which is a lovely bit of brick work for its smallish size. There’s a heap of detail packed in here, and a lot of attention paid to making it authentic and recognisable as a classic European cottage. To my eyes, it’s riffing specifically on a 16th century Germanic style with timber framing, white panels and shingle roof.
There’s only enough room in this cottage build to fit a kitchen bench with some food and utensils, and then an open fire stove that also forms one of the four walls, but it’s effective nonetheless. Some flame pieces and a hanging pot adorn the inner side of the stove wall and then an assortment of grey pieces and dark green leaf elements create a lovely overgrown look on the outside. Around the outside we’ve got ornate windows complete with flower planters, a sconce, pitchfork and a hinged, wooden door with a nice, big handle.
The roof section, which lifts off easily to show the inner details of the cottage, uses a neat sideways build technique along with a huge number of rock finger pieces in dark brown to create the shingled look. In the centre sits one of the two new birds, nestled behind some hinged window coverings, and on the right side is a cobbled chimney with a classic white smoke piece atop.
With the cottage complete, the rest of the build is all about filling out the remaining flora and fauna, a lot of which carry the same modularity of the previous Gardens of the World sets. These lovely brick-built trees, for example, can easily swap positions. Dedicated folks will notice another new element here, a drooping, leafy piece that’s used to create this gorgeous Weeping Willow.
I’ve seen it suggested that these pieces will be perfect for the Botanical Collection theme in the future, but I kind of hope we don’t see that. The scale doesn’t really make sense for a detailed Botanicals set, and it might betray the creativity and ingenuity of the talented LEGO designers in crafting convincing floral life from existing elements.
I’m a big fan of this sundial, which is also moveable and contains newly-recoloured pieces, like these antenna elements in purple to represent sage plants. Likewise this wooden Barrow filled with freshly-picked and very juicy looking fruit and veg – a pumpkin, parsnip, pear and apple.
Here’s another quick look at the animal (and gnome) figures included in the set:
And here it is all together, including some quick rearrangements of the modular sections!
Finally, here’s how it is next to the other two gardens. As you can see, it’s a big improvement on The Fountain Garden in how full and diverse it looks, and it’s pretty well on par with The Tranquil Garden in offering a colourful, calming and cosy brick-built garden getaway.
Final Thoughts
Don’t let the lower piece count fool you – 11372 Autumn Cottage Garden is just as gorgeous and detailed as its Gardens of the World predecessors. It may come in at a slightly smaller footprint than The Tranquil Garden, but it absolutely blows The Fountain Garden out of the water with a fun build and plenty of visual variety in the completed model.
There’s just so much here to love, from the cosy, 16th century European cottage to the abundance of plant and animal life, rich Autumn colours and charming small builds. This is the Gardens of the World series back at full strength, and I’m really excited to see where LEGO might take it after this.
The value proposition might seem off, given this one runs similarly to the other gardens at US$119.99 / AU$179.99 / £99.99 RRP with significantly fewer pieces, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at it, and there are some decent new elements and colours in the mix as well.
Build
A fun build throughout, with plenty of variety and some extra modularity for customisation
Innovation
Some neat uses of elements and build techniques for the cottage, and fun new pieces with promising futures
Real Value
A higher cents-per-piece than the two previous Gardens of the World, but the finished model holds up against the asking price
Display Value
An absolutely gorgeous build that’ll look great on display, and is even more fun and interesting on closer inspection
To get the latest LEGO news and LEGO Reviews straight in your inbox, subscribe via email, or you can also follow on Google News, or socials on Facebook, Instagram (@jayong28), Bluesky or subscribe to the Jay’s Brick Blog Youtube channel.
Comments are closed.