A flock of sheep that are about to meet their maker at the abattoir got high on cannabis plants worth £4,000, after the drugs were ditched in a Surrey field.

"My sheep weren't quite on their backs with legs in the air but they probably had the munchies," farm shop manager Nellie Budd told local rag the Surrey Mirror .

"They haven't had any other side effects but I'll tell you about the meat next week."

The stash of marijuana plants, which were each roughly three foot tall, were dumped at the edge of Fanny's Farm in Markedge Lane, the paper reported. Budd's shop was just 200 yards from where the drugs were fly-tipped, apparently.

Police told Budd that the cannabis had a street value of about £4,000.

She added:

"My sheep being inquisitive had an interesting feast on it," she said. "At first I thought it was someone's hedgerow rubbish. I went down to get the bags so the sheep weren't eating black plastic.

"When I got there I realised it was a form of herbal cannabis plant. They were very strong in scent."

Budd said she was puzzled by how the plants came to be in the field, and speculated that someone could have taken a detour off the motorway to offload the drugs.

The stoned sheep, meanwhile, are understood to be wandering around r-e-a-l-l-y-s-l-o-w-l-y and feeling a tad bit paranoid while searching for a massive chocolate bar and a family-sized bag of crisps, man. ®