My niece has a beautiful dolls house called the Marlborough Dolls House which is a John Crane Pintoy product - in fact I wrote a review about it some time ago.

There are various sets of furniture made in 1:12 scale available to fit in this, or indeed any other, dolls house including bathroom, living room, kitchen, nursery and bedroom furniture.

Earlier this year she received the set of living room furniture which she loves playing with and it is so cute I just had to tell you about it in case it was useful as a Christmas present idea!

Since I hadn't a clue how much it cost I have just searched via Google and found the set ranging from £14.99 at Mail Order Express, to £13.95 at Amazon, down to just £12 at www.kidsrooms.co.uk where they also stock furniture for all the other rooms too! Incidentally the pictures of the items on this website are excellent and can be enlarged so that you can really see the detail of the furniture.

So what do you get for your money then?

Before I go into detail I will start by saying that you get the John Crane Pintoy quality. These little items of furniture are made with the same care and attention to details as any of their larger toys. They are made from replenishable Rubber wood and are carefully finished so that there are no sharp edges to hurt little fingers and of course the paint used is safe and lead free.

The living room set is made up of the following items:

A sofa complete with a patterned cushioned seat and back rest.
Two arm chairs again with patterned cushioned seats and back rests to match the ones on the sofa.
A round coffee table.
A TV stand with video / DVD player shelf
A TV with painted screen and controls
A video / DVD player with painted controls
A standard lamp complete with shade
A painting of a flower to hang on the wall

This set is not designed to be displayed in a 'collector's' dolls house rather it is designed to be played with and that is exactly what my little niece does! She loves to arrange the furniture in the rooms of the house and sit her little dolls on the seats 'watching' the television! The various pieces are all easy for her to hold and play with as they have no tiny fiddly bits that she might struggle with.

The items of furniture are well made and robust and so withstand a lot of serious play! They are regularly dropped and bumped about when my niece and her friends are playing with them but they have suffered no ill effects and are just as good as when they were first bought a few months ago.

The furniture is recommended for children aged 3 years old and above as by its very nature the individual pieces are small and could present a choking hazard to a younger child.

All in all I would say that this set of furniture is well worth the money as little girls (if you'll pardon my being sexist!) play with their dolls houses for many years and, from what I have seen, this set will last the distance.

Of course now I have an idea for a Christmas present - I just need to check which of the rooms still need furnishing ................