AN off-duty nurse had a brush with royalty at the weekend but of the scaly kind.

Mrs Carmel Cliffe discovered a 3ft long Californian King snake sleeping peacefully in a flower pot in a greenhouse on Saturday (Oct 6).

At first, the mother-of-one thought the reptile was a toy until she called her husband Stephen who saw the snake flick its tongue.

The discovery was made at Mrs Cliffe's Walshaw Road home as she and her husband prepared to watch the vital England-Greece football game.

She said: "We went out into the garden to dig up some potatoes and I went into the greenhouse to see if there were any tomatoes. I saw the snake curled up, sleeping in a flower pot. "I thought someone was playing a practical joke. I called Stephen over who saw it move. The snake was beautiful."

The Cliffe's contacted the RSPCA before speaking to a reptile specialist from the Bolton Museum.

The sleek grey beast was later identified as a female Californian King snake which, according to the museum worker had sought shelter from the cold spell.

Mrs Cliffe, who works at Fairfield General Hospital, said: "The specialist told me that the snake was healthy and, as it was thousands of miles away from its natural habitat, was a pet. It had either been freed or it had escaped.

"She had been living in the area feeding on mice and such and needed somewhere warm to escape the cold weather."

The snake was taken away by the Bolton Museum representative and is now being cared for at a snake centre.