HE'S created Carlisle from matchsticks.

The Civic Centre, the train station, Old Fire Station, Rickergate, Dixons Chimney, Shaddon Mill, the suspension bridge in Rickerby Park and town hall have all been intricately created using the matchsticks.

Mike Tolley creates the models while sitting in front of the TV at his Cumwhinton Road home in Carlisle.

He took up the hobby a few years ago after being given a model making kit.

He said: "I've always made models - from planes to ships.

"I started about five years ago when someone bought me a couple of little models and I started making little kits but it was very expensive to keep buying the little kits so I started doing my own thing. The first thing I made was a paddle ship."

His most recent creation is Carlisle train station.

Mr Tolley, 64, estimates that it took him about 200 hours to complete.

He uses ordinary matches that are one and a half inches long and then he sticks them onto cardboard.

And there is no special science behind his matchstick creations.

Mr Tolley says he tends to find that the cheapest glue on the market is the best.

Mr Tolley, who works as part of the estates team at Carlisle College, said: "I can get 10,000 matches for £12 so it's quite a cheap hobby. I sit and chip away at the matchsticks nipping bits off with the pliers while I'm watching TV. They go ping, ping, ping all over the floor and then you have to collect the mess at the end. There's quite a lot of sticky fingers and superglue.

"I take a photo of the building on my iPad and then I often find myself measuring it out with my steps to get the scale. I don't have any fancy plans. I just do it from the iPad and zoom in on certain features."

Even the guillotine that Mr Tolley uses to cut the matches is made by himself.

He said: "I like to do buildings that have character and a but of history to them. I've done quite a lot of Carlisle now so I can see in the future me concentrating on churches. I have thought about doing the castle but it's so big and so long and I just think it would be too much."

Mr Tolley would like to see his creations on display in a museum.

He said: "I think there has been some interest but nothing concrete as yet.

"The town hall has been on display before in the town hall so people could see it."