Vicar's £20,000 two-storey soft play area inside a 15th-century Dorset church angers parishioners worried about the stained glass

Reverend Andrew Rawding spent £20,000 installing the two-storey play structure in the nave of St Mary's Church in Burton Bradstock after spotting parents huddling in the porch in the rain with toddlers. The 15th-century Grade I listed building now has children's equipment sitting alongside its traditional pews.

Pilates, yoga and bridge classes kept the village hall perpetually occupied, leaving nowhere indoors for young children to play at no cost.

Older parishioners raised concerns both about the solemnity of the building and the risk to its stained glass windows.

Rawding crowdfunded the idea via the village Facebook page, saying he received 'really positive feedback' from residents.