A NEW building fit for a king at a North Yorkshire primary school has come from unlikely beginnings.

A children's castle at Snainton Primary School, near Pickering, has been made from the bricks of an old outdoor toilet block.

But headmaster Steve Clothier said his 48 pupils aren't giving it the royal treatment. "The castle has two small glassless windows which the children hang out of," he said.

"One day they're selling kebabs and burgers and the next they're pretending to be a cash dispenser."

The £3,000 castle took a local builder five weeks to make and was funded by the school funds and the PTA. It has been decorated with seven shields designed by children who left the school last year. The school is also developing a garden on a small area of adjacent allotment land, for science and nature walks, funded by a £150 grant from the Yorkshire Bank.

Updated: 10:50 Saturday, September 15, 2001