THREE little piggies ventured far from their Herefordshire home for an appearance on prime-time TV earlier this month.

Janet and David Legge, who own Pencombe-based Shortwood Farm, took three of their racing pigs to London to appear on the One Show.

The Legges' call came as Harry Potter actor Timothy Spall was appearing on the show to promote the new series of Blandings – in which his best friend is a pig.

Janet said: "It was quite extraordinary because the researcher from the show rang us on the Tuesday evening at 7pm and asked whether we could bring some pigs to London on Thursday.

"We weren't sure it would be possible originally but then we managed to get things sorted and thought 'actually let's do it'.

"It all went well, it was very exciting and interesting to see how the program was presented. We took hurdles with us and set up a race course just outside the studio. At the end of the show Timothy, Matt Baker and Alex Jones came out and stood at the end of the course with buckets of food. My husband, David, let the three Kune Kune pigs go and they raced down to the feed.

"They actually did very well as they were in a strange environment and hadn't raced since the farm closed for the winter at the end of October. So now they are in training for when we open again for Easter.

"It was a fantastic experience," Janet added.

Pig racing is one of the activities that visitors can watch at the farm when it opens to the public again on April 5.

For more information visit shortwoodfarm.co.uk