A Sidmouth farmer tipped off police when he stumbled on a secret stash of cannabis being cultivated near his land.

Officers were called to Milltown Lane in Fortescue to find the 10 plants growing in a man-made clearing on an overgrown footpath.

The farmer found the illicit allotment when cutting back the hedges, which meant that the police were unable to track the growers.

PC Dave Wallace, who was one of the officers who attended the scene, said: “It looked like they hadn’t been touched in a week – with the hedge gone it wasn’t clear where they had been coming from.”

He added that there had been a search for other plants but nothing was found, but he was surprised to see something so close to the town.

Last time drugs were found growing they were in a more rural area on private land in Sidbury.