Escaped tortoise back home after a month on the run

Matilda is about the size of a saucer, her owner said

A tortoise has been reunited with its relieved owners a month after making a not-so-swift escape from their garden.

Sallyanne Brooksbank said she had all but given up on ever seeing pet Matilda again after she went missing in early July.

However, the 10-year-old tortoise was discovered by walkers in a field three miles from home in Wymondham in Leicestershire on Thursday, and has now been safely returned.

"She must have had quite an adventure," Mrs Brooksbank said.

"We were distraught when she went missing. We searched the garden over and over, but I thought we'd never see her again.

"Now she's back we've all got a massive smile on our faces."

The walkers who found Matilda picked her up and took her to a nearby shop.

Mrs Brooksbank said discovered the tortoise had been found when she spotted a post by the shopkeepers on Facebook.

"It's the power of social media," she added.

"We don't know who found her, but I'd love to thank them."

Matilda's owner said she possibly escaped the garden by climbing up on a raised bed of courgettes

Mrs Brooksbank said Matilda, a Hermann's tortoise, appeared to be none the worse for her roaming.

"We wish she could speak because we'd love to know how far she got," she added.

"She's not very agile, but I think she may have climbed up a courgette stalk to get out of the garden.

"She headed off in the direction of Sewstern.

"We've been trying to work out her route, but it has to have been through several fences, across fields, a ditch, a road, a stream and who knows what else."

Mrs Brooksbank said Matilda was small and about the size of a saucer, adding it was "a miracle" to have her home.

She said: "She could have been attacked or squashed by a car - but she seems fine.

"If anything, she might have grown a bit.

"There are no marks on her shell, and she gobbled up the food we gave her.

"She seems happy to be home, and I know we are happy to have her back."