PART of a holiday park in West Dorset was evacuated after an unexploded shell was found near a beachside caravan.

A holidaymaker discovered the item in the garden of the caravan at Freshwater Beach Holiday Park on Friday, April 25.

Police were alerted and a cordon put in place to stop people going near the item, described as ‘a very old, large, rusty piece of shell’.

A Dorset Police spokesman said caravan park staff evacuated the area. Bomb disposal experts took the item away at around 4pm. Lisa Condliffe, assistant manager at Freshwater, said it was a mystery where the item came from. She said: “It was found literally just outside an owner’s caravan.

“Once the police arrived it was all over in a matter of minutes but we placed a 50-metre cordon around the area just to be safe.

“It’s just common sense really but in this case it was nothing too dramatic.”