A mystery surrounding two colourful knitted characters found abandoned in a wheelbarrow outside a pet and garden store has been solved.

Far from becoming the target of a growing craze known as yarn bombing, as first believed, the figures were left by friends of their owner who decided she would donate them to raise money for charity.

The two knitted figures, one a golfer and one holding flowers with the initials RJ on its hat, were discovered by staff at Myhills Pet and Garden store in Fairland Street, Wymondham, last month.

When they viewed the CCTV footage they witnessed three middle-aged women strolling up to the shop front with the figures, which are up to 2ft tall, leaving them in the barrow, and fleeing the scene.

It has now emerged the figures belonged to Jaqueline Bryant, 63, from Garvestone, near Dereham, who asked her friends to drop them off at a charity shop, after deciding she no longer wanted them.

'At the end of the day the saga has brought a smile to many faces and hopefully raises a lot of money for charity,' she said.

Tickets to raffle off the two new additions are being sold to raise money for East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), until after the Easter period.

Yarn bombing, also known as guerilla knitting, is believed to have been started in Texas, America, in 2005 as a way of brightening up dull public spaces and the underground movement has spread across the world.

Examples of guerilla knitting have also been spotted in Norwich where lamp-post and bus stop cosies have been discovered at the St Giles end of the Grapes Hill footbridge, in Chapelfield Gardens, and Unthank Road.