I have seen plenty of model railways in my time, and walked around a few model villages. But I have never visited such a clever combination of the two as Beech End. This model village in Leyburn has all the fine detail of village life on a scale of 1:32 - from the pub and post office to a church with a wedding taking place. But it also has vehicles, trains and boats that move around the roads, railway line, canal and lake.

It is an absolute winner for any child aged between three and 73, because you don't just wander round and watch - you do.

In this interactive village, you steer the narrow boats around the circular canal, including a tricky section of tunnel where they almost disappear from sight. You pilot a faster boat around the lake. You drive a police car, fire engine, bus and mini around the streets and roads. You also press buttons to light up rooms in the houses and hear the sounds of villagers at work and play. One button fills the air with music from the church wedding. Another lights up the bathroom in a house, revealing a man soaking in his bath who you can hear singing away. A third produces a cry for help from a man drowning in the nearby lake.

Every so often, the lights are switched off and the village is plunged into night for a minute or two, with "stars" glinting overhead and the buildings floodlit most attractively.

My eight-year-old daughter loved the village, spending nearly two hours running from one control to another. Her reaction was typical of most visitors to Beech End, judging by the lavish praise written in the visitors book.

However, I can imagine that the attraction may easily become a victim of its own success, particularly at busy times of the year. There were only seven or eight other children there when we arrived last Sunday afternoon, but it was already rather crowded in the large upstairs room where the village is based.

Demand for the car and boat controls tended to exceed supply, occasionally leading to frustrating delays while we waited for one to come free.

Leyburn itself is a pleasant town well worth wandering around, with all the glories of the Wensleydale countryside on the doorstep. And, with a clear run up the A59 and A1, you can get there in less than an hour from York.

But you've only got another week to visit Beech End before it closes for the winter on October 28.

Fact file

Beech End Model Village, Commercial Square, Leyburn.

Open (until October 28) daily from 10.30am until 5pm.

Admission: Adults: £1.90, senior citizens: £1.60, children under-14: £1.30.

Further information: 01969 625400.

NO disabled access currently to the model village, which is up a flight of stairs.

Updated: 08:39 Saturday, October 19, 2002