A police station, post office and a little farm... the 'little villages' for kids that families love

With a mini supermarket, tiny police station and post office, little farm and even mini beauty salon, these "little villages" have become a big hit for families for play sessions and private parties. The Little Lancashire Village role play rooms are the brainchild of former school teacher Holly Harker.

Holly, from Oswaldwistle, quit her job and remortgaged her house to open her first Little Lancashire Village in Burnley. It was just as lockdown hit - but she was determined to go ahead with the plans and it opened in 2021.

Families were soon flocking to experience the adorable little role play centre which also boasts a café with Holly's home-baked cakes. She decided to make the space available to be booked out entirely for private parties on weekends and found it was swiftly getting booked out for weeks in advance.

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It got an even bigger boost when former Corrie star Helen Flanagan chose to book it out for her son's birthday party last year - which gained national press coverage - seeing bookings surge even more.

Realising she'd hit on a winning formula, Holly began to hunt for a second site to cope with demand. So she found an old cotton mill building in Rawtenstall which she and partner Jamie converted, before opening in February 2022.

A third site opened in Darwen in August 2022 in a converted garage, and Holly is now actively searching for more across the Ribble Valley. Holly, 28, lives in Oswaldtwistle with partner Jamie and their two daughters aged 5 and 3.

She says: "I'd quit my job as a geography teacher in a secondary school to do this, and had been working on the Burnley site just before Covid hit. I'd remortgaged my house to do it