THE County Air Ambulance has been presented with a stunning dolls’ house and garden worth more than £2,000 as an early Christmas present.

The beautifully-crafted model will now be raffled and is expected to raise thousands of pounds.

The original house was built by retired engineer Peter Wilks and the the garden, complete with greenhouse and potting shed, was added by Yvonne Cox. The gift was handed over to County Air Ambulance fund-raiser Jenny Ashman at the Strawberry Fields pub, Evesham, where it will be raffled by licensees Steve and Diane Sims.

“It’s absolutely beautiful and will make someone a wonderful Christmas present,” said Mrs Ashman.

“The amount of work that has gone into both the house and the garden is out of this world. It must have taken years to complete.”

Mr Wilks, from Redditch, said: “I just love building things and when I retired I looked around for something to do.

“I started making dolls’ houses and I have carried it on from that time.

“Yvonne painted the house and then created the garden at the side and she has done a fantastic job.”

The 82-year-old, who has just celebrated his diamond wedding with wife Pearl, said: “There is a tremendous market for dolls’ houses that many people are just not aware of.

“I would estimate that this one is worth somewhere between £2,000 and £3,000 and I hope it manages to raise a fair bit of money for a very worthy cause.”

Mr Sims said that ticket sales had started slowly but he was optimistic they would pick up as more people became aware of the raffle.

“It’s a brilliant piece of work and every time you look at it you can spot something else,” he said.

“There is a very tiny mousetrap in the potting shed.

“The amount of work that must have gone into it is phenomenal.”