By Laura Hanton

A tiny telephone box in a Dorset village has been transformed into a quirky information centre.

The Parish Council of Briantspuddle purchased the telephone box for £1 and asked the residents to decide how it would be used.

With a defibrillator already located at the village hall, the overwhelming response was that the box become a kiosk for visitor information.

The renovated box was opened by Audrey Grindrod, who has been a resident in Briantspuddle for more than 25 years.

Living opposite, she has cleaned and maintained the telephone box throughout the years, and was delighted by its rejuvenation.

A creative team made up of local volunteers set about designing content to fit the compact space, creating photographs, illustrations and text to overlay onto maps. The interior of the telephone box was fitted with weatherproof, aluminium panels that proudly display the local information.

Two members of the design team have also contributed towards the production of the Parish Cookbook and local walking guide.

The box now gives visitors a snapshot into the history, architecture, natural habitat and wildlife that make up the parish. Residents hope it will encourage tourists to visit the parish website and find out more about the Dorset village.

For such a small parish, villagers in Briantspuddle say it has a lot to offer its visitors. Local interest was piqued by the 2014 exhibition on the unusual history of the creation of the Bladen Estate, and villagers are hoping to recapture this curiosity.

The red telephone box has become an icon of British culture since it was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1924. More than 2,000 have been designated as Grade II listed buildings, but BT has planned to remove the majority of the remaining 35,000 in the next five years, to eliminate running costs.

Recognising their popularity, however, the company has allowed local authorities to buy back their phone boxes. More than 3,000 boxes have become host to life-saving defibrillators, but in other areas of the country, communities have been letting their creative instincts run wild in deciding how to re-use the small space.

* Last week it was reported that BT was offering communities the opportunity to adopt their local phone box for £1 to turn them into something inspirational for their area.

Nearly 1,000 traditional red boxes are available for adoption across the south west.

For further details on how to apply to Adopt a Kiosk visit bt.com/adopt where application forms and information can be found.