A woman who has realised her dream of opening her own children’s role playing centre in the Okehampton area has been shortlisted for a major regional business award.

Sarah Cole, of Okehampton, has been shortlisted for ‘female entrepreneur of the year’ in the South West Business and Community Awards.

She and her husband Martyn opened Scribbleton in Winkleigh in July last year. Together they have also been shortlisted for ‘new start up of the year’ and ‘leisure and tourism award’ categories in the same awards, to be announced next month.

Sarah said of being shortlisted: “It is a bit of a shock, because we only opened in July last year so we are very very new and finding our feet and working out where it takes us.

“It is early to be recognised anywhere but to be shortlisted across such a large region with such a range of businesses is a bit surreal.”

She added that they’d be glad to get anywhere in the awards, as just being nominated was an honour.

Scribbleton offers young children the chance to let their imaginations run riot and make up games using props and cardboard cutout buildings created to the Coles’ own bespoke designs.

The business is aimed at both locals and holidaymakers. Open just over six months, it is already proving a hit.

The awards will be announced at the South West Business Awards ceremony in Swindon, Wiltshire on March 12.

As a mother of two children aged four and seven, Sarah felt there was a gap in the market for something offering to stimulate children’s imaginations in a venue.

Part of her inspiration came from the BBC TV Cbeebies programme Biggleton, an imaginary town where children dress up and have fun taking on jobs around the town.

“I’ve spent the last six years since 2018 running baby and toddler classes so I always had a dream to open a roleplaying centre,” said Sarah.

“On CBeebies, Biggleton is this mini town made out of cardboard cutouts and buildings and the children dress up and act out stories. For a long time I have thought how brilliant it would be open a centre around that idea. And as a parent with children who love soft play, I wanted to do something different. Sometimes soft play can be a difficult for children who prefer something quieter. I wanted to do something more creative.”

She and her husband searched hard for the right venue for their idea. Unable to find anything suitable in Okehampton, which was their first choice, they found what they were looking for in Winkleigh, which Sarah said had the advantage of catering for people living and on holiday in the north Devon area as well.

She said: “We looked for quite a while in Okehampton but we couldn’t find a building that was big enough or had parking. We couldn’t find anything quite right and then we found this, which is within a unit by Jonesy’s Catering in Winkleigh and it is ideal. We are close to Okehampton, but we are also close to Winkleigh but we also get people who come from north Devon.”

She explained that they had put their heart and soul into the project, with attention to detail in the props, down to ice creams for the ice cream shop for instance.

“All the roleplaying areas were designed for children of seven and under but we do encourage older siblings to come as well. Parents think their eight or nine-year-olds aren’t going to play but then they are dressing up and acting out the stores and enjoying it just as much. I think we give the big kids the permission to be creative and imaginative. They are playing cops and robbers just as much as the little ones.”

She said they had been blown away by the reaction from visitors.

“Some people who have seen Biggleton get that this is what inspired me all those years ago. We get lots of comments about the attention to detail. There is nothing really out there that exists that is really quite like it. People love that is is so much fun and looks like it has been made for children, so they love it.”

The awards will be announced at the South West Business Awards ceremony in Swindon, Wiltshire on March 12.