Firefighters were called to the rescue when a sheep took an uninvited dip in a family's swimming pool.

Owners of the house in Malthouse Lane, Hurstpierpoint, were amazed to discover the animal bobbing in their back garden pool at 1.15pm yesterday.

The sheep is believed to have been in the water for five minutes and had become stuck after becoming caught up with the pool cover.

A rescue team from Burgess Hill fire station was sent to help.

They called on Shoreham firefighters to bring a suitable life jacket.

Between them the teams managed to attached the jacket to the ewe and pull her gently to the side with ropes.

The animal wandered into the garden from a field opposite the detached house.

Once out of the water, a neighbouring farm owner reunited her with her two lambs, none the worse for the ordeal.

A spokesman for Shoreham station said: "We were the nearest station with lifejackets but they're for humans really, not sheep.

It's not often we have to go to these kinds of calls."