A woman in Devon was stunned to return home to find 107 gnomes carefully arranged in her front garden.

Police were called after Marcela Telehanicova found the gnomes, including a formation 30 rows deep and three abreast.

The figures were placed in the garden at Bowdens Park in Ivybridge between 9.30pm on 1 June and 1.30am the following day. A local garden centre has been checked but no gnomes have been reported missing, Devon & Cornwall police said.

Officers are treating the incident as “found property” and are asking residents to check their gardens to see if any gnomes have disappeared.



“Someone has taken quite a bit of time and effort to place them there,” police said. “It has unsettled the homeowner, who has no idea why they were put in her front garden at night. We are seeking to establish where the gnomes have come from.

Marcela Telehanicova’s home in Ivybridge. Photograph: SWNS.com

“The question is whether they are stolen, or if it’s a prank and someone is playing a game of gnomes.”

Telehanicova said she was closing her curtains when she was confronted by the figures, either standing or sitting three abreast. “I had a second look, thought ‘What is that?’ Then I realised they were little people.”

She says the plastic figures were moulded into the shape of little workmen. “I was in hysterics, I found it really funny.”

The following day she called the police, believing that the figures, which all had barcodes on the base, might have been stolen from a local garden centre.

“I reported them, saying: ‘Look, if somebody says they’ve got 100 gnomes missing and they’re in my front garden, I’m the one who’s going to get questioned.’ The police took them away, but they said if after 28 days nobody has claimed them I can have them back.”

Telehanicova, who lives with her young son, added: “It’s the best, most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t know who did it but I would love to know. I would love to shake their hand and say: ‘Well done, you made me laugh.’”