Grace, 8, sent us a brilliant suggestion

Since we took it over from BT a decade ago, the blue phone box has served as a landmark to help people find us, and an unofficial village community library.

But Grace thought it could be even better if it focussed on books children would like to read.

“I would like to do a project filling the blue telephone box with children's books,” she wrote. “I used to go to Filleigh school and I think that the children would like to go up there and take books out and use it like a mini library.”

What a great idea!

So we visited the North Devon Hospice shop in Barnstaple to stock up on children’s books.

Grace and her mum Jenny were the first visitors to see the new selection. They dropped off some old books, borrowed a few to take home, and received some book tokens for Grace as a reward for her brilliant suggestion.

Grace credits her love of reading to her old teacher, Diana Twining: “Grace was a perfect pupil, always determined to learn to read for herself, so she learned very quickly,” said Diana, who retires from Filleigh Primary this year after 25 years in teaching.

“She’s very lucky to have a mother who encouraged her from a young age, which is so important in helping children understand that books can be interesting and fun.”

Kate Cox is CEO at Bray Leino: “The blue phone box library is there for our local community and Filleigh Primary School to use whenever they want,” she said. “We hope the books inside will inspire more children like Grace to learn to love reading.”

A poster inside the phone box now reads: