THE village community shop in Spreyton last weekend celebrated five years of successful trading.

The purpose-built shop opened its doors in July 2010 and is owned, managed and staffed by volunteers from the community. It started trading three years after the village had lost its privately owned shop following the death of its owner.

Since then the business has gone from strength to strength and now hosts a post office service twice a week, offers a dry-cleaning service, and stocks a wide range of foodstuffs from local producers.

Villagers turned out for a celebration picnic party on Saturday July 18, where there was entertainment and games for children and live music for all.

The shop team set about proving you CAN have your cake and eat it, as the shop was re-created in cake form for the occasion. The single-storey edible shop came complete with its own marzipan volunteers in their Spreyton-brand red aprons.

A spokesperson for the village shop said: 'People in Spreyton are pleased at their success in keeping the shop open for five years. Many small businesses don't reach that milestone.'