A PET hamster which ended up in the cellar of a Kirkby Lonsdale art gallery after going on a New Year's Eve walkabout has been reunited with its young owner - more than 250 miles away in London.

The disappearance of little Dudley left eight-year-old Eve Ripley heartbroken after she had taken him with her on a visit to her grandmother Mary Jackson who lives in the South Lakes market town.

Her mum Julia said Eve was distraught on New Year's Day to discover Dudley had managed to push open his cage door and make his getaway out of Mrs Jackson's Main Street home.

It is thought he made his way along the pavement until it came to the Finestra Gallery and could have got into the cellar through a grill.

"We take Dudley everywhere with us and Eve was left heartbroken and sobbing after finding he'd gone missing," said Mrs Ripley. "We had to return to London so she could go back to school without knowing what had happened to him."

As reported in last week's Westmorland Gazette, the adventurous hamster was discovered by gallery owner Bill Jones, who appealed for help to find its owner.

"Mr Jones put a notice in the newsagent's window which was seen by my mother's cleaner," said Mrs Ripley. "She knew straight away whose hamster it was because she had been told how upset Eve was at losing Dudley.

Eve's grandmother decided the best thing to do was to personally escort the hamster back to Eve at Barnes in south west London, travelling by train and tube.

"Eve had no idea he had been found so we took him to her school so they could be reunited. She was so happy, it was amazing."

Since then, Eve has written to Mr Jones to thank him for looking after Dudley. She told the Lunesdale artist: "I am so pleased that I have got him back. I bet he enjoyed staying with you and I bet you looked after him very well."