TIM Dixon believes he has the best of both worlds.

He spends half his working life in market research doing project work on a self-employed basis and devotes the rest of his time on his other job - making handcrafted wooden puzzles and games which he sells at craft fairs.

"It is a very nice combination from sitting in front of a computer to woodworking. They complement each other well," said Tim.

His business, Chiltern Games and Puzzles, has been going for five years and grew out of Tim's childhood interest in collecting puzzles.

He started making his own after he couldn't find good wooden ones. Selling them was a way of defraying the cost.

"I wanted to be able to put them on display as an ornament rather than just something to play with and put away," said Tim, who makes the puzzles and games in a workshop at his home in Walters Ash.

He was self-taught in woodwork and a year before selling his games to the public, he tested them on family and friends.

The games and puzzles are made from off-cuts of particular pieces of wood with big knots which the furniture industry does not want.

"Looking back now I wasn't very happy with the things I made six years ago," he reflected.

They are all based on traditional games and puzzles, many from the Victorian era, and are suitable for anyone aged from five upwards.

The selection includes Fox and Geese, an African game called Wari, through to interlocking, sliding blocks and 3D Shape Puzzles. They range in price from £6 to £30.

One of the most popular puzzles is the Soma Cube, where seven pieces fit together to make a cube in 240 different ways, or hundreds of sculptures.

Or, for the more serious game player, there is Queen's Guard, which Tim describes as a very unusual and tactical game.

Tim and his wife Nicky, who is a teacher as well as a partner in the business, choose to sell their wares at fewer but larger craft fairs these days, such as Art in Action at Waterperry and Stonor near Henley-on-Thames.

The run-up to Christmas is the busiest time of the year for the couple. They will be doing two main fairs over the next few months - at Hyde End near Chesham from October 6 to 8 and at the NEC Birmingham Crafts for Christmas fair from November 9 to 12.

They have also set up a website: www.gamesandpuzzles.co.uk this year and are now receiving orders for corporate gifts, such as staff incentives.

"The web site gives us the chance to include a larger catalogue, as well as instructions and solutions to puzzles. The big test for the website will be in November and December," said Tim.

"I am never short of ideas for games and puzzles but it is finding to time to make them."

That could soon change. Tim is hoping to spend a couple of days a week at Rycotewood College in Thame brushing up and improving his woodworking skills.