Mike Laycock discovered the history of music - in miniature - when he visited a foggy Robin Hood's Bay

As we walked down the steep road into Robin Hood's Bay, a dense fret was coming in off the North Sea.

That was both bad news and good. On the one hand, it was chilly and we couldn't begin to see the sea.

On the other hand, we had parked without difficulty and the village streets were as quiet as I had ever seen them.

Robin Hood's Bay, with a long and colourful history as a fishing and smuggling village, has to be one of the most picturesque villages on the east coast of England, but the usual throngs of visitors can rather spoil the atmosphere. But not today.

You half expected to see a Jack Tar carrying a rum barrel to emerge through the fog.

Our plans for a long walk along the cliffs were fogged off and our attention was caught instead by a sign pointing to a Music in Miniature exhibition, from where we could hear the excited chattering of a group of foreign children.

The exhibition, based in the United Reform Church Hall in Albion Street, at the bottom of the hill, is the personal creation of just one woman - Pat Labistour.

She has devoted her life, it seems, to creating more than 40 miniature scenes based around the theme of making music.

Each scene is about the size of a room in a large doll's house, but focuses on a different aspect of music.

The scenes range chronologically from one, depicting cavemen using the basic materials of stone-age life to create music, to another showing a space-age pop group, complete with synthesisers and amplifiers.

In between, there are scenes depicting Victorian carol singers, a Salvation Army band, the York Waits, harvest home celebrations, a medieval feast and so on.

There's also a large traditional Edwardian doll's house. Pat Labistour started working in miniature during the Second World War when she had a doll's house with no furniture and had to make her own, and she has never stopped since.

The young children - as well as some of the adult visitors - were entranced, and this is an excellent place to call in with youngsters, particularly as the cost of admission is extremely reasonable.

At the entrance, there is a shop called Recollections of Childhood selling a good range of toys and trinkets.

Music in Miniature, Albion Road, Robin Hood's Bay.

Admission: Adults: £1, children 50p.

Open daily: 11am to 5pm.

Further information: 01947 880512.

PICTURE: The York Waits at the Music in Miniature exhibition and, right, visitors browse in the Bay's quaint streets