Best wooden dolls house-recommendations please!

[Jemimapuddleduk]

Hi - I am looking for a dolls house for my nearly 3 year old for Christmas. There are some gorgeous looking ones at asda, tesco and little trading company. I have read that the open plan type ones may be better for little ones. They are all quite expensive so I want to make sure it's something that will be used and played with by dd and ds for many years. Any recommendations or other ideas for a Christmas gift?

Aldi have one in on This coming Thursday. £29.99. They are also selling furniture sets.

There are no guarantees sadly! We had the Toysrus one, all in for £50, and neither child had much interest in it. If it had been bigger, or more colourful, maybe it would have been different, but they were never interested in playmobil either so I suspect not. They preferred their own make-believe to small world play.

If your DC is heavily into small world then it is a much better bet, but I reckon it's more about the child than the exact model you pick. Pick one that appeals to you and doesn't break the bank.

I've seen this one at toysrus - it's reduced to £49.99 at the moment and comes with furniture and dolls. It comes completely plain which might put off some people, but I like the idea of DD being able to decorate it when older.

That's the one we had, I think it's more or less always on sale.

I painted just the outside with normal wall emulsion, it was quite effective.

Be aware it's on a slightly smaller scale than more expensive ones. 1/16 rather than 1/12 or something.

We have the asda one. It was a gift. My girls don't play with it that much. This weekend we were staying with someone who had a more intricate one. It got played with more. But probably just novelty value. My girls prefer playmobil stuff generally.

We have the GLTC one. It is lovely but now that DD1 is getting older (6), I think a larger house (to fit Barbie dolls) might be better. We got it when she was 3. DD2 plays with it more than DD1 did, and funnily enough neither of them play with it in the way they 'should' (e.g. using all the furniture). It mostly houses all their little figures/mini dolls and mini My Little Pony's - which seem to enter the house through the windows rather than the front door. Another thing, don't go mad buying the furniture sets. I got the lot - far too much to fit in the house, and there was also lots of teeny bits that I have just stored away in a box and forgotten about.

Another idea is the dolls' house themed bookcase:
www.gltc.co.uk/bookcases-bookshelves/dolls-house-bookcase/gltc/fcp-product/10003355

Could be used as a big dolls house but also for general shelving/books as they get older. V expensive for what it is though.

We got the hape all seasons house for dd's first birthday - and she does actually play with it at 18mo. It's pretty big and brightly coloured with an open design so multiple children can play. The furniture is fab quality and so cute.

this

We bought the asda one a year ago and it is still played with on a daily basis :)

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Will have a look at those mentioned.

I bought dd a vintage home made one from an antiques barn for £20. It is probably 1950s, from the design of the house (but who knows!) I had to do it up, but I would (modestly) say that it does have some charm now, and I enjoyed doing it. Dd got it when she was about 2 and a half, and at 3 and a half it is definitely by far the most played with toy, and has been for some time. I love it too!