Godalming Nub News aims to support our community, promoting shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.

We profile some of these businesses and organisations regularly in a feature called 'Up Close in Godalming'.

Today we caught up with Mark and Beata, who run 135 Models inn Farncombe.

For dozens of Farncombe children their trip to and from school each day is enlivened by a stop and peek into a shop window in Farncombe Street.

That window contains a railway diorama, complete with buildings, tiny people, vehicles and all the plethora of daily life in miniature: washing on a line, a greenhouse full of vegetables, people swimming in the sea, and even a campfire.

Mark, co-owner of 135 Models, says he has stopped running trains on the track due to groups of children gathering on the narrow pavement outside the shop to watch them, as he is worried for their safety as cars drive past.

The layout was a labour of love for Mark and co-owner, Beata, who spent six months creating the landscape and peopling it with tiny figures, and almost every day since that she is in the shop, moving items about on the display.

The layout at the moment is decorated for the festive season, with a Christmas tree and tiny lights attached to the street lamps.

Beata says: "People say it brightens their day. When they are going to work in the morning they stop and have a look." Step through the door of the shop and you will find a modeller's paradise. Among the kits and paints you will find miniature trees and buildings, a range of glues for different types of modelling, a selection of hand tools. Along with ready printed sheets, the shop stocks various materials to create a landscape of your own design. The shelves are stocked with paints from Humbrol, Revell, Tamiya and The Army Painter, along with brushes and airbrushes. As well as the ever popular Airfix models on the shelves, 135 Models also offer small-scale soldiers, vehicles, ships and tanks from quality manufacturers such as AFV Club, Trumpeter, Academy and the ever-popular Tamiya. If there is a particular model you are after, they can probably find it for you. If making your own model is your thing, you can also buy Balsa wood and metal. Mark and Beata can also offer advice on building a railway layout - as the work of art in the window attests. Mark does the electrics and the lighting - and Beata is the scenery queen. They are thrilled, Beata says, when customers bring in photos of their own layouts. "It's wonderful to see what people do," she says. It's busy in the shop around Christmas, with customers coming from far and wide to browse the shelves and the catalogues. "Before Christmas they buy models, and after Christmas they come in and buy paints and glue," Beata laughs.

The shop was closed during the first lockdown, and customers were pleased to see it reopen in June. "It was busy after we reopened," says Mark.

They stayed open during the second lockdown. "People were coming in, and saying they were grateful that we were open, and we had a lot of support online, as our products were beneficial to the customers' mental health," he adds.

It's not just models on offer at the shop: Mark and Beata also offer DVD rental. Beata has run this aspect of the business since starting in St John's Street in 1995. There are over 3,000 titles on the shelves, costing £3.50 a night to borrow.

So if you fancy taking on a building project in the new year - or fancy checking out a new film, or rewatching an old favourite, then 135 Models has got just the thing for you.

Visit them at 43 Farncombe Street, on their website,or on Facebook. For DVDs visit them here.

You can also call 135 Models on 01483 424666.