Tiny Town Newcastle

*Updated 2018 - Tiny Town has now shut down*

Being a mam to two pre-schoolers I am always on the lookout for fun places that I can take them and last week we discovered somewhere pretty special, Tiny Town Newcastle. Tiny Town is located in Chapel House in the West Denton area of Newcastle, tucked away near the shops in a large detached house which has been transformed into a magical role-play centre for young children to have fun and let their imagination run wild. 

It is recommended for children from around one to six years old, making my children the perfect age for a visit. 

Even though it is located in a residential street there is a free car park and there is a bus stop close by with regular buses into Newcastle city centre (the 40 and 63). You will spot Tiny Town straight away as there are signs and the house is decorated in the distinctive Tiny Town branding. 

We have never visited anywhere like this before so I had no idea what to expect, we were warmly greeted at the entrance and showing to the cloakroom area which had lots of pegs and lockers (they don't actually lock) for your coats and shoes (you have to remove your shoes before entering). We were then showing around Tiny Town, everything is located on the ground floor and it is all open plan and really bright. 

There was a hair salon, supermarket, doctors and vets, construction site, post office, fire and police station, kitchen, house, a small sensory area and an art and craft room. Each of the areas is divided with low walls and are set up with lots of toys and equipment to make role playing fun for little ones. There was a huge range of fancy dress costumes for children to dress up in too, to really get into the spirit of the games they were playing. 

My three-year-old daughter made a beeline straight for the hair salon and she adored doing the dolls hair and make-up.  While my two-year-old son was just going from area to area as he just did not know what to play with first.

 

The supermarket area was a huge hit with both of my children as they loved pushing the little trolleys around and picking groceries from the well-stocked shelves and then playing on the till. 

The children  played in every single area and had great fun dressing up and playing with the toys. You do have to stay with your children at all times when you visit. There was so much attention to detail in all of the areas which made the whole experience so lovely for both adults and children. 

There was a post office area, complete with a postman pat van you could sit in and my son adored this area. He had great fun filling a post bag with letters and then posting them through a post box and delivering parcels to people. 

My daughter really enjoyed all of the areas, she had fun being a vet with all the cuddly animals, doing her shopping in the supermarket, building a house in the construction site, making cups of tea in the kitchen and being a hairdresser in the salon. 

One thing that stood out was just how clean and tidy everything was, there was a member of staff in the area at all times who was tidying things away when the children had finished with them. The toilets were also really clean with steps for little ones to stand on, toilet training seats to use on the toilet and baby changing tables. 

There was also a cafe at the front of the house which served hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, cakes and snacks. The children got a milkshake and it looked amazing. 

When we visited there were four other children visiting so it was fairly quiet and the children got to play and explore all the areas fully. You are recommended to pre-book online before you visit as they only allow up to 22 children at a time in and I imagine on weekends and rainy days it will get busy. They run three sessions a day, each one lasting an hour and a half and they run 9.30-11.00, 11.30-1pm then 1.30-3pm each session costs £6 per child. 

We really enjoyed the visit to Tiny Town, both parents and children, it was something different that the children really enjoyed. Everything was tailored to young children and making this an enjoyable place for them to visit, there was a great range of play areas and plenty of role play toys available. 

The whole building was very clean and tidy and the staff were really friendly and great with all the children who were there. 

The only negative that I could find is that none of the lockers had locks on which would have been nice for if you had valuables with you.