Little Learners Village

Little Learners Village is a role-play village built at child height, on the west side of Thirsk next to the railway station. Children move through fourteen small themed zones, each set up as a place from everyday life, and play out what happens there. The venue describes it as a world built for small hands and big imaginations, and it is aimed squarely at toddlers and young children.

The zones cover a lot of ground. There is an emergency services station with calls to answer, a supermarket with wooden groceries and a checkout, a post office for sorting and stamping letters, a vet's clinic for bandaging soft toys, and a village school with a blackboard. A construction zone, a music shop, a space station with a rocket, a launderette and a beauty salon fill out the street, along with three food stops: a pretend cafe, a fast food diner with a drive-thru and an ice cream parlour. The youngest have a soft baby area of their own.

There is also a sensory room, which the venue describes as a calm, therapeutic space for children to settle and regulate.

From Tea Time Cafe at 87 Market Place, drive west out of Thirsk towards the station and into Carlton Miniott. It is about four minutes by car. The venue publishes only its postcode, YO7 4LX, so use that in a satnav. Parking is free, with spaces at the front and a large car park behind.

It is too far to walk comfortably from the Market Place with small children, at around half an hour. For a family arriving by train it is a different story: the village is a few minutes' walk from Thirsk station, so you can step off a train, play for a session and catch the next one home.

Book a session on Bookwhen before you travel. The venue asks every visitor to read its rules of play first: adults supervise their own children the whole time, props stay in their zones, and food and drink stay out of the play village and the sensory room. Then pick one of the day's three sessions, each 1 hour 45 minutes long.

Inside, let the children lead. Most will move from zone to zone, and the sensory room gives a quieter break between busier spells. Babies who are not yet walking come on a Pre-Walker ticket, which covers the sensory room and the baby area, and they can join the rest of the village too. The booking calendar sometimes carries a session just for babies and non-walkers.

For food, the Jungle Cafe on site serves barista coffee and light lunches, including a lunchbox for children. Packed lunches are welcome on the picnic benches outside.

The detail of the zones is what stands out. Each one is a small, complete scene with its own props, so a child can spend twenty minutes running a supermarket checkout or answering emergency calls. The location next to the station is a real asset for anyone visiting Thirsk without a car, and the free car park makes it just as easy for drivers.

Book ahead, because sessions run at fixed times and the calendar can change from day to day. A 10am session ends at 11.45am, which leaves time to drive back into town for lunch on the Market Place. Pack a lunch to eat on the benches outside if you would rather not use the cafe. Siblings save a little each, so book them together. If you are coming by train, check the train times against the session times before you book. Email the venue before you travel about anything the website leaves unanswered, such as step-free access or a socks rule.