A KNITTED model of Braintree Station which celebrates the history of the town centre has found a new home.

Commuters travelling to and from the station are now able to view the model in the ticket office after it was put on display last week.

The model, which was previously set up at the Carriage Museum in Rayne, is one of nine which have been created by the Dolphin WI Creative Knitting Group.

The team began making scaled down replicas of iconic landmarks in Braintree five years ago to mark the WI's centenary and have now created a heritage trail by displaying each model inside the building they are based on.

Vice chair Elaine Pye said: "It was never our intention to do so many. It started with St Michael's Church and snowballed from there. We didn't know what to expect but the model of the church worked out so well we started making more and more.

"We put the heritage trail together to encourage people to come and visit Braintree.

"We want people to come and see our town because it has some lovely buildings and a lot of history. It is something that needs to be advertised more and celebrated.

"We sent out of trail leaflets to a lot of the WI groups in Essex and had quite a few replying to arrange a visit to come and see the models."

Among the buildings recreated by the group are the town hall, library, Braintree Museum and George Yard Shopping Centre.

They have also knitted paintings of Weavers Cottage and the public gardens, as well as made other models of market stalls.

Ms Pye says it takes around four months to knit a model, with each group member taking a section of a building to work on.

Plans are now in place to create a replica of Bocking Windmill, as well as the Bull Pub in Market Place.

Ms Pye added: "We have already started work on the mill and hope to have it done by March. It will probably go on display in the mill when it opens for the summer season in May. They have a glass cabinet already waiting for it.

"Obviously there is a cut off at some point when we will still making the models and pictures. We have done quite a lot of buildings already but we have a few more we want to make. So long as people like and enjoy them, we will keep on knitting them."

Leaflets of the WI's heritage trail are available in various places throughout the town centre.

Anyone interested in joining the knitting group is welcome to attend its monthly meetings.

It meets at the community centre in Bocking End on the fourth Thursday of each month at 7.30pm.