A YOUNG mother duck certainly knew how to feather her nest when she decided to set up home in a Minehead tea garden.

Hoping for a plentiful supply of crusts and cake crumbs, she secretly settled down among the undergrowth to hatch out an 11-strong brood of mallard ducklings.

But there was a flaw in her plan - the young ducklings were effectively marooned in their makeshift paradise as the tea garden was in the centre of town and there was no water for them to dabble in.

Thankfully their plight was all too obvious to Jim and Anita Wilson of the Apple Tree Tea Rooms in The Avenue.

The couple promptly closed the garden area of their business to ensure the safety of the ducks, provided a supply of fresh crusts and called in a local vet to help relocate them.

Mr Wilson told the Free Press: "We didn't know they were there until the mother appeared with 11 ducklings on Tuesday, although by Wednesday she was down to ten.

"We stopped them going out into the road and closed the garden area.

"We had a few people who wanted to sit out in the garden but most people were OK about it, although there were one or two who I'm sure thought we were making it up."

Photos: Steve Guscott