Give Jo Rochester a pair of antlers, a few lengths of Harris tweed and a couple of days and she will fashion a stunning wall hanging.

Eastern Daily Press: Jo Rochester with one of her textile animal heads she makes.Picture: ANTONY KELLYJo Rochester with one of her textile animal heads she makes.Picture: ANTONY KELLY (Image: Archant Norfolk 2014)

The heads of fine-featured stags, hefty bulls and curly-horned rams fill her Burgh-next-Aylsham home - all handcrafted from a patchwork of textiles.

Despite flashes of candy-coloured fabrics and glass eyes, the heads look uncannily real, and orders have been flooding in.

Mrs Rochester, 40, discovered her talent after giving up a logistics manager post with Marks and Spencer in London four years ago, moving to north Norfolk and starting a family with husband Tom.

'I never did art at school but I've always had an artistic, creative streak,' she said.

'Stags heads were all the fashion in magazines and I liked the idea of having one on my wall but I didn't want a real skull, so I had a go at making my own.'

In the early days Mrs Rochester would get creative at her kitchen table while her sons took their daytime naps.

Now Jack, three, and two-year-old Ben are at nursery school and she has more time to experiment and perfect her craftsmanship.

'I've got a bit of an eye for colour and I like mixing fabrics,' she said.

Hunting trips to car-boot sales, especially a stately car boot at Sennowe Park, near Fakenham, helped her stock up on luxurious classic and vintage cloth.

And when she put a photo of her first deer head on Facebook she was amazed at how widely it was shared, eventually leading to about 40 orders from as far afield as Northern Ireland.

Mrs Rochester finds all her antlers in Norfolk but has also received some unusual post.

'Some people might have a favourite Hebridean ram and when it dies, they want it to live again in a different form so they send the curly horns to me to work from,' she said.

Her prices start at £120 for a hare, with stags' heads from £260.

? Mrs Rochester's work can be seen at a weekend pop-up shop from November 15 to December 14 next to Farm to Fork and Fish, Norwich Road, Horstead, or on her website: jorochester.com

? Have you discovered a hidden talent? Contact alex.hurrell@archant.co.uk