AT first glance, it’s a bus stop to nowhere. It looks real, with a sign and map of local routes, and a bench to sit and wait - but instead of being at a roadside, it's in a corner of a care home.

There are several bus stops at the Five Rise Nursing Home in Bingley, on ‘streets’ named after local places. On the door of each resident’s room is a house number, and a ‘This is Me’ profile.

Outside, there’s a street with old-fashioned lamp-posts, a telephone box and a row of shops, including a traditional barber’s and a post office. It’s like taking a trip into the past, which is very much the ethos at this newly-built 67-room residential home.

It’s the brainchild of Damien and Daniel Holt, who grew up in a nursing home owned by their father, Brendan. The brothers became psychiatric nurses and run care homes in Leeds, Baildon and now Bingley. “At our care home in Kingston, Leeds, we introduced noises of street buses and birds tweeting. It created a stimulating environment for residents, so we decided to build on that,” says Damien.

With most residents having dementia, the aim is to create a living space that sparks memories and helps with reminiscence therapy. “Many people with dementia don’t recognise the modern world, but they do recall the past. Re-creating community life as it was, with things like street signs and shop fronts, helps them to live well in their own reality,” says Damien. "Our bus stops take people back to something they used on a regular basis. People can sit for as long as they like to wait for their bus. To them, it's real."

In a comfortable open-plan living-room there's a cosy-looking aga and a grand piano. Screens on the walls show old advertising images and Bradford City memorabilia. A wonderful toy shop window, Bingley Toys, featurs a rocking horse, toy car, dolls and board games spanning decades.

The room overlooks a garden being developed to include a spacious terrace, bowling green, vegetable patch and flower beds with scented plants such as lavender.

An activity programme, which includes music, baking, crafts and trips to local places, is part of the valuable reminiscence work at Five Rise. “We have street parties, a market and a 'holiday at home' with a barbecue, ice-cream van and beach scene. It’s all part of a structured daily programme,” says Damien. “Visitors are encouraged to bring in their dogs, for pet therapy, and we’re planning to have a cat living here. It’s a home, not a hospital, and we want people to feel comfortable. We're getting involved with the surrounding community too; we have local nursery children coming in, and Bingley Grammar School's choir. It's important to bring outside spaces in, and to have interaction with the younger generation.”

A sensory room, for relaxation, includes soothing music, coloured lights and lavendar scent.

At the end of each 'street' are mural-style photographs of local places, including Five Rise Locks, the Alhambra, Bradford City football ground and Bingley's Market Street. A cinema, showing film classics, is decorated with vintage movie posters. A dining area has a 1950s kitchen cabinet and cooker.

Leading up a staircase, there are old arcade games on the walls. Upstairs there's a sitting-room area with leather-backed chairs, a 1960s TV set and record player, a grandfather clock and various objects people would remember from the past, including an old sewing machine and a carpet sweeper. Most items have been sourced by Brendan, who has travelled the country scouring vintage shops and auctions.

In another sitting-room there's a roaring log fire effect on a screen, complete with crackling sound effect, and an old clock on the mantlepiece. There's even an original clocking-on machine, familiar to anyone who worked in a factory or office.

A splendid mahogany bar re-creates the feel of a traditional pub, and there's a montage of images from much-loved TV shows, such as Coronation Street, Dad's Army and Hi-De-Hi. "These prompt great memories for people, and get them talking to their families about times they've shared together at home," says Damien.

Outside, residents and visitors can wander down Memory Lane, past nostalgic shops. There's the Seven Dials Barbers, based on a real Bingley barber's shop, where gents can have a shave and a haircut - in the window are hairclippers, razors, shaving brushes, jugs - a greengrocer's, selling goods including wooden pegs and bottles of Vimto, and a Post Office with old weighing scales, coins and a post box. A vintage car and 1950s motorbike stand outside a garage where people are encouraged to tinker about, re-living old hobbies or workplaces.

A bicycle stands against a street lamp, and other planned period features include a coal shute, an orchard and a cast iron shire horse, re-creating the feel of old working streets.

It's like a period film set, but in a time and place that is still, for many people, very real.

* Visit fiverisenursinghome.co.uk or call (01274) 552157.