A mother and daughter was left with an egg-tra surprise for breakfast after her hen laid an egg inside an egg.

Mother Laura Nancarrow, 29 and daughter Lily Thomson, 9 of Coanwood near Haltwhistle was left more than a little shell-shocked when they cracked open an egg for breakfast and found another whole egg inside.

"Lily normally wakes up very early and checks her hens, but she was a bit later that day, she went down to her hen house and saw a giant egg!", Laura says,"She was very excited when she found it but had to go straight to school so decided she would have it the following morning to make pancakes with.

"We were a bit sceptical about what would be inside and when she cracked it open found the regular egg with the tiny one! She decided to keep the shell and the tiny egg and took it into my parents pub to show every one and still has it now."

Laura currently work at her parents pub, The Wallace Arms in Haltwhistle and had bought the hens a few months for an early birthday present for Lily, a pupil at Greenhead Church of England Primary School.

She said: "We have 16 Hens and 1 cockerel. Lily got them in November just before the bird lockdown as an early birthday present.

"She has wanted them for years, I’ve never had them before but my partner is a farmer so he knows a bit, we have sheep already which Lily has always loved being involved with.

"Luckily, we bought her hens from a friend who taught us a lot too."

It is believed that the find is rare and only be found in 1 in every 1000 eggs.

Laura's partner is a farmer and thinks he knows how it happened. Lucy said: "My partner is unsure but could be that the small egg has travelled backwards up the hens oviduct before coming out and then a new egg has formed around it."