North Tawton’s Merry Go Round group, received a boost last week winning the Muddy Stilettos Best Children’s Business in Devon award for 2022.

Merry Go Round, which sells second-hand children’s items to raise money for local schools, announced last Wednesday (June 21) that it won the award out of 75,000 businesses across the UK.

Sadie Coventry, director of Merry Go Round, said: ‘We were completely stoked because we were up against lots of bigger places. We didn’t really think we were going to win.’

There is set to be an awards ceremony in July where Merry Go Round staff will be presented with a plaque to hang outside the shop in honour of the achievement.

But the shop is already reaping the rewards of its success.

Mrs Coventry added: ‘We have already gone crazy busy which is great because it’s given us loads of exposure. It’s a big competition and people are seeing us who aren’t local.’

In May, Merry Go Round announced that it had entered the competition for Best Children’s Business in Devon and in June it confirmed it was one of the five final contenders for first place, urging local people to vote for it.

Merry Go Round sells a wide range of pre-loved toys, clothes, books and DVDs for children aged 0-13 to raise money for twelve local primary schools including Okehampton Primary School, Hatherleigh Community Primary School and North Tawton Primary School.

The group has a shop located in North Tawton but also maintains an online store and in-store pick up or home delivery service.

Muddy Stilettos was established in 2011 by journalist Hero Brown when she moved to the countryside and started reviewing shops and activities to find the best things to do in her new home.

Since then Muddy Stilettos has expanded to cover 26 English counties and has become a popular way for city-dwelling women to discover the best activities to do in rural locations across Britain.