Gnome limit to collection (From Stroud News and Journal)

Gnome limit to collection

THERE's no place like gnome as far as Audrey Gay from Whiteshill is concerned.

The pensioner has collected around 109 of the little men and women at the last count including her pride and joy, Snow White.

"It started off as a gimmick and then I did it more and more," she said. "I have just accumulated them. If I go anywhere, it's a thing that I buy. It's become a bit of a giggle.

"The more people keep pulling my leg about them, the more I get. I grow roses and I have got a job to see them for the gnomes. I think they make a pretty picture with all the red hats and everything, they are very colourful."

Miss Gay has been collecting the gnomes for 30 years.

Every winter she packs them away in four large tea chests and stores them in her caravan, to keep them safe from frost.

Miss Gay said she has no favourites amongst the gnomes, though the really old ones have their own section of the garden where they can retire in peace.