Brambly Hedge mouse Wilfred Toadflax is to welcome Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre visitors

The Brambly Hedge exhibition, including original artwork by creator illustrator and creator Jill Barklem, is on at the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre for a another month.

Greeting visitors is a character straight out of the pages of the books, which first became popular in the 1980s – Wilfred Toadfax, the most mischievous and energetic of the mice children living in the titular hedge.

The books recount the adventures of a community of self-sufficient mice who live together in the tranquil surroundings of the English countryside.

The first four books have now been reprinted more than 20 times and translated into 13 different languages, with sales in the millions.

The exhibition features 16 of Jill's detailed original watercolours, which were used to illustrate the stories, as well as a number of preparatory studies to show Jill's painstaking approach to creating her pictures.

A Brambly Hedge Royal Doulton chinaware collection is also part of the display.

Keith Pybus, a supporter of the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, was marketing director of Royal Doulton in Stoke-on-Trent in the 1980s and met Jill Barklem during his time there.

In 1981 he read an article about her books, and said: "I saw at once she had the potential to be the Beatrix Potter of our time.

"The Potteries had always employed the four seasons as a theme for collectibles, which was an additional reason for liking her books.

"After we had signed the licence for chinaware, apparently in a moment of madness I said to the designers 'This is a £1 million pound product'.

"No-one was more relieved when in the first year we sold £2 million."

The Brambly Hedge exhibition is the only one of its kind in the UK.

It is open at the Discovery Centre from 10am to 5pm.

Normal admission charges apply to see the exhibition which already houses the Shropshire Mammoth and special stories of the landscape of the Shropshire Hills.