Residents determined to halt the decline of their Northumberland picture-postcard village have finally seen their revival plans come to fruition.

After loosing the village post office, shop and petrol station, community determination kicked in and has put a halt to the downward spiral.

Now, two years later, residents of the tourist village of Falstone, on the edge of the Kielder Forest Park, have heard their funding to transform a former schoolhouse into a tourist focal point has been approved.

The idea to combine a village shop with tourist facilities such as a tea-room craft area and information point won hearts and minds within the Northumberland National Park Authority and Northumberland Strategic Partnership and with it, funding of £190,000.

With enough funding in place, villagers have started work to get the £265,000 project open in time for this year's tourist season.

The project is expected to win European funding to cover the rest of the costs.

Work to restore the building started with the help of a team of volunteers from Northumberland National Park Authority moving in to strip paint and wallpaper and tidy up the garden to get it ready for Edinburgh-based architects RMJM who are overseeing the design.

Stuart Evans, Director of Access for Northumberland National Park Authority, said: "We put the local community at the heart of everything we do and the work we are doing to transform Falstone tea-rooms will be a real boost for local people.”

“As well as providing a great new facility for visitors, the new shop and tea-rooms will be a great asset for the village in terms of proving a community facility and boosting the local economy. If all goes according to plan, the tea-rooms should be open in the summer."