HOW'S this for a long yarn?

A Swanage shop is celebrating 100 years selling wool.

The Wool & Craft Shop, Station Road, has been selling the same product since 1907, and amazingly is still in the hands of the same family.

Originally named the Dorset Knitting Company, it was run by the Cleall family for 44 years, until it was purchased by George Bishop - cousin of Lucy Cleall.

The shop is still owned by Maureen Curtis, Mr Bishop's daughter, who herself worked there from 1951 until 1955.

And it is still a family business, run for the last 12 years by current tenants Ann Figg and her daughter Marianne Parker.

Ann, who has lived in Swanage most of her life, bought her first ball of wool in the shop 50 years ago when she was just eight years old.

She said: "You definitely get the feeling it has been here a long time and we are responsible for looking after it and making it work."

The shop, the only one on Station Road that has retained its original frontage, is full of history, including a watercolour sign dating from 1953 claiming it to be oldest wool shop in the district - still true more than 50 years later.

Ann added: "It's something people haven't got in their towns any more, and that makes it really unique.

"We can give a service - people can come to us with their problems and we know what we're talking about.

"What's really nice is that the customers here become friends."

The mother and daughter team are now working to take the business into the modern age, and have just launched a website.

"We want to make sure we continue for years to come," added Ann.

The Wool & Craft Shop is celebrating its centenary with a national competition for knitters to reproduce a vintage knitting pattern in modern yarns, with top prizes for the winners.

To enter, send your name and address to The Wool & Craft Shop, 17 Station Road, Swanage, Dorset BH19 1AB, or visit the website at craftywoolshop.co.uk