A VICTORIAN school which offers visitors a realistic re-enactment of days gone by has gone on sale on the internet.

The Victorian School of the Three Rs, in Llangollen, was set up as a tourist attraction 16 years ago and delivers a daily diet of strict discipline to pupils, who are most definitely seen and not heard, from across Britain and Europe.

Scores of children and adults flock to the premises each year to experience education of a bygone age.

The school was the brainchild of Dilys Lloyd who employs a headmaster and teachers to deliver reading, writing and arithmetic. And pupils are drilled outside in the yard before they study history and geography.

But the pensioner is now set to draw a line under her involvement - blaming the school's success for the move.

Dilys said: 'It has grown so rapidly that I think it is time for me to retire and for someone a bit younger to take it over. I have put it up for sale as a going concern, a tourist attraction which in the summer is open seven days a week.'

The school has gone on sale through its own website. Dilys has not revealed how much she wants for it and says she is open to offers.

Pupils have to dress in Victorian clothes, take their place at authentic Victorian desks and write on slate.

Dilys says the old-fashioned teaching methods can be a bit of a shock but young and old alike enjoy the experience.

She comes from a farming family, but always had an interest in history and had built up a collection of old educational memorabilia.

So she came up with the idea of renting the old primary school at Llangollen, tentatively opening the school doors 16 years ago, and was delighted at the interest that followed.

'The business has become too big for me to manage now,' she said. 'It is very close to my heart and I don't really want to get rid of it but I feel I have no option. I am looking forward to retirement and doing all the things that I have not had time to do over the years.'

She added: 'This is a thriving business. I hope someone will take it over as a going concern. There is plenty of work to do. We have bookings coming in for 2005 now.

'I have loved it and I have met so many people and made so many new friends. Many of them return year after year.

'Some of the letters the children write to me afterwards would bring tears to your eyes. They had never seen anything like it before.

'I think they appreciate their own schools and their teachers after they have been here!'