Parrots are talking happily away in one room, each in their own cage, listening to the radio in the background.

In another part of the house, giant tortoises are happily engrossed in their holiday home, munching away on their food.

Outside, a sign 'bunny terrace' gives a clue to what's in the cages, each with the names of their fluffy occupants outside.

In another section of the garden, African land snails happily soak up the atmosphere and enjoy their holiday home.

Further down the garden in a different section, there's a cage with two ferrets in while inside a shed, there are more hutches with tortoises.

In fact it's fair to say that most of the garden at the Belle Vue Terrace house has been turned over to hutches and cages but then that goes with the territory when your business is looking after pets. 

So popular is the business that customers come from miles away from Liverpool and Manchester and sometimes further afield.

This is the Small Pets Holiday Home in Sandbach, set up by pet lover and former truck engineer, Steven Dickinson, 28 years ago.

"I've always loved pets," said Steven. "This started as a hobby when people started asking me to look after their pets when they went on holiday.

"We have people coming from all over the North West to drop their pets off.

"We're straight off the motorway and easy to find. There's lots of kennels and catteries for dogs and cats but nothing for small pets."

The pet boarding service for "little ones" lists rabbits, guinea pigs, fish, birds and tortoises amongst its customers.

Steven, 50, looks after most small pets but draws the line at spiders, which he doesn't feel ready to look after.

"The birds can speak in all kinds of languages, such as Polish and Spanish, depending on the nationality of their owner," he said.

"Lots of the rabbits have been coming in for years and some of the other pets too so you get to know them."

Steven has a strict daily routine caring for the pets he's looking after but knows one, Penny the parrot particularly well.

"Someone brought Penny to us to look after while they went away to America but they never came back.

"We tried contacting the man but his phone was switched off so we have just kept her here.

"I love all the animals, they each have their own personality. I pride myself on taking really good care of them."

If Steven is busy looking after people's small pets, when does he get chance to take a break?

"We're open every day of the year except Christmas Day. I have to wait until we're quiet and people are back from their holidays," he said.

Further details about the Small Pets Holiday Home can be found on the website here