A hedgehog may usually be spotted rootling around in your garden, but for one lady her hedgehog is a unique pet.

Lesley Steel, 50, of Cedar Avenue, Tiptree, owns an five-month-old African pygmy hedgehog called Twiglet.

Mrs Steel said: “She was born in October and we got her in November.

“She’s an indoor hedgehog, she doesn’t go outside because she’d die.”

As Twiglet is spiky she has the unfortunate habit of prickling everyone that handles her, until she relaxes.