The father who was guided to safety by the light from a police helicopter has spoken of his fears after his family got lost in a forest.

He, his wife and children, aged four and five, who do not want to be identified, got lost in bitterly cold weather after going for a walk in the dense St Leonard's Forest near Horsham, on Friday.

They were rescued after calling police on a mobile phone who became concerned for their safety and scrambled the helicopter to find them. The family was guided by the helicopter's powerful searchlight to a waiting police Landrover on the edge of the forest.

The father, a 43-year-old IT recruitment company director, said: "I feel a bit of a fool now and embarrassed that I had to phone the police to get us out of a hole. I shouldn't have let us get into this sort of mess."

The family, who live in Cranleigh on the Surrey and Sussex border, drove to Nymans Gardens, Handcross, where they planned to go for a walk, but found it closed.

They were driving back past St Leonard's Forest when they saw a car park and decided to have their walk there instead.

The father said: "We arrived at 2.30pm and walked for an hour and then decided to go back to the car. It started to get dark and we asked a couple of people for directions to the car park because there were no signs in the forest.

"We walked until 5pm when it became clear we had arrived back at the point we had asked people for directions. We had just walked in a circle. It was dark and the children were getting tired and cold after walking for two-and-a-half hours. They were getting worried about us being lost."

He said on their own he and his wife would have followed paths until they found a way out but they became concerned about their children.

He said: "We phoned the police and they managed to identify which woods we were in after a police car was sent out to check where our car had been left.

"The helicopter appeared and used its spotlight to indicate where we should be heading. It led us to the police Landrover.The children were very excited when they saw the helicopter.

"The police put the heater on and warmed us all up and then drove us to our car. It was minus four degrees and we had all got very cold, even though we were all kitted up for walking with fleeces and boots."

He praised the way the police had helped them and had not criticised their decision to walk in the forest.

He said: "They said we had done the right thing using my mobile phone to call for help. The children found it exciting but my youngest son said he didn't want to walk in that wood every again."

The family was discovered on a forest track by PC Julie Hickman and her airborne team and were in constant touch by phone with PCs Penny Anthony and ulie Price.

Julie said: "Penny was in contact with the father and liaised between him and the force helicopter, passing information to officers in the helicopter.

"The family was cold and worried about the situation and Penny built up a good rapport with them, reassuring them we would be able to get them out of the woods. It was a nice example of good team work."

Police spokesman Phil Woolf said: "It was a very good co-ordinated effort between different sections of Sussex police. We were delighted to get them to safety on that ferociously cold night."