A FORMER hotelier is following in her mum’s footsteps by opening an antiques shop in the heart of Ulverston.

Nicola Davis has received a warm welcome to the town after opening The Crooked House in King’s Street.

The shop is Mrs Davis’ second antiques store in South Cumbria - the other being The Curiosity Shop in Grange who she has ran alongside her mum for the past seven years.

The 42-year-old, who formerly ran the Hampsfell House Hotel in Grange, decided to open a shop in Ulverston after plans to launch a café fell through.

She said: “My sister, who lives in Ulverston, and I were planning on buying a café together in Ulverston.

“Her husband has a deli in the market but she then decided she would take over the deli so we scrapped the café idea and I decided to open a shop instead.”

The Crooked House sells a range of items, including vintage clothes, jewellery, furniture, a range of colourful selection of children’s toys, and gifts for all the family.

“We sell similar stock to what we sell in Grange,” Mrs Davis said.

“I talked about opening another shop before but this seemed to be a good time.”

Since opening her doors last month, Mrs Davis has received a warm welcome by the town’s community.

“Business has been quite good,” she said.

“We’ve had a really positive response from the community. Everyone has been really nice and supportive.

“We’ve had a really welcome response to the town.”

Mrs Davis, who works two days a week in her shop in Grange and the remaining days in Ulverston, is following in her mum’s footsteps who owned and ran an antiques shop.

She said: “Mum had an antique shop in Grange and was doing that whilst I was growing up.

“I said when I was older I would not go into antiques and little did I know I love it now and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

The Crooked House is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 11am until 4.30pm.