Jane's Midlife Journey

Little Treasures Village is a recently opened role play village in the centre of Christchurch, where children can play in the shops, construction site, road and park of their own mini village.

How to get to Little Treasures Village

Christchurch is located 5 miles east of Bournemouth along the A338/A35. Little Treasures Village is located upstairs in Trove, which is in Saxon Square, just off the top of the High Street.

By Bus

By bus, buses 1a/1b/1c and X1/X2 stop at Town Centre, which is a 2 minute walk away. During the summer, the 70 Breezer Bus is another, more scenic option. Note: On Mondays, the High Street is closed for market day, so the nearest bus stop is Fountain Way, just the other side of the bypass.

Christchurch Station, on the main line between Bournemouth and London, is an 11 minute walk.

Access

As mentioned above, the village is upstairs. The stairs are at the back of the building, so you have to push pushchairs through the meandering collection of stalls, trying not to knock anything over.

There is no lift to the first floor. There is space under the stairs to stash pushchairs. If you arrive early, you may have to play pushchair Tetris on departure.

Note: On our most recent visit, there were lots of toys strategically placed at toddler’s eye level as we walked through the store. By the time we reached the cafe, Orla was clutching three pairs of sunglasses, a rubber cat and two Barbie dolls.

Parking

Saxon Square has its own car park, where parking costs £1.40 for 2 hours. More details can be found here. I usually park on the opposite side of the High Street at Bank Close because it’s easier to access and also so I can walk through M&S and buy treats. Parking fees are the same. Further details here.

Opening Times

Little Treasures Village is open daily from 10 am until 3 pm, although these timings vary slightly around other events scheduled.

Price

The price of a session for one child under 7 is as follows:

• 1 hour – £4
• 1.5 hours – £6

There is a discount for two children. Further booking details can be found here.

Events

On alternate Wednesdays from 10 am until 11.30 am, the village is exclusively for mothers and children aged under one. This costs £5.50 and includes a weekly speaker. This is organised by Baby Mama no Drama. Further details here.

There are also Minky Moos (messy play) and Purple Moon (sensory play) sessions from time time.

Suitable for age

The village is advertised as being suitable for children age 0 to 7 years, although I think it is probably best suited to pre-school children. There is an area appropriate for babies with a ball pit, soft shapes and sensory toys.

Details

The site is laid out like a mini village, with a row of shops and construction site on one side of the road opposite a park, where the more baby appropriate toys are located. The village consists of the following:

• Ice Cream Parlour
• Grocery Shop
• Cafe
• Construction Site
• Road
• Dressing Up Area
• Library
• Park

Orla has just started to show an interest in role play, so I thought she would enjoy it here. Initially, she was somewhat bemused by the fake ice cream in the Ice Cream Parlour. She kept licking all the ice lollies and looking somewhat disappointed that they didn’t taste good. Once she had got over the initial disappointment that grandma had taken her to an ice cream parlour where you couldn’t actually eat the ice cream, she really enjoyed making and serving pretend ice creams.

The little Grocery Shop was packed with groceries – mainly wooden fruit. After another moment of disappointment that the strawberries and cherries were equally inedible, she had great fun loading the shopping trolley and pushing it up and down the road. On our second visit some months later, she derived most pleasure from playing with the till and demanding exorbitant amounts of money for groceries!

Orla’s favourite was the Construction Site. Possibly because she never expected the bricks to taste good? And she loved loading the fork lift truck up with bricks to pour over grandma.

There is a road which you can drive up and down in mini vehicles, including a set of traffic lights which I think were probably battery operated but didn’t actually work. I know this is just a little thing, but it upset Orla that the lights were broken.

There is also a dressing up area with a small stage for any budding mini divas.

The first room in the village, which was a florist on our last visit, is now a library.

The park consists of a mini slide and a climbing frame/swing. Orla was initially excited by the little swing as it was low enough for her to climb onto herself. But then she fell off and banged her head on the not particularly padded astroturf.

Food & Drink

The play area is inside a picket fence next to the Cafe, which serves drinks, snacks and a range of cakes. There is seating both inside and on a nice little roof terrace.

Note: There is very limited seating (a 2 seater bench) inside the play area itself. If you have older children, you could sit in the cafe and watch them over the fence. But for younger children who need more supervision, sitting on the floor is the only option if you don’t arrive early enough to bags one of the two seats on the bench.

Toilets/Changing Facilities

There are toilets right next to the play area plus a separate changing area.

• Updated: September 2025

For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth with young children, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth with Babies and Toddlers here.