A GHOST hunt for 11-year-old Henry Kay paid off in an unlikely way.

Visiting St Mary’s Church at Kington with his sister Tilda, aged nine, to see the tomb of ‘Black Vaughan’, whose spectral hound is believed to have been the inspiration behind Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’, Henry wanted to take a look at ancient Hergest Court, where the notorious Thomas Vaughan lived in the 15th century.

While glancing across to the distinctive half-timbered house with his grandfather, 76-year-old Tony Boyce from Lyonshall, Henry, who lives in Leicestershire, happened to spot a five-leafed clover in the grass verge.

He was delighted with his discovery, even more so when he heard the statistics: there is a one in 20,000 chance of finding such a genetic mutation of the regular plant. The find is believed to bring luck and wealth to the person who spots it.

“I wasn’t sure about the find at first,” he said. “But, on closer inspection, it certainly had five leaves.”

High school boy Henry, who has a fascination for history, said he would remember his brush with the past at Kington, and more particularly his chance find. “Here’s hoping it brings as much good luck as it did when I found it!”