Racy underwear, odd socks and mobile phones are among the most common items to be left behind by guests in hotels.

But a set of gold dentures worth £6,500 was one of the more bizarre finds for staff cleaning a Travelodge in Bridgend recently.

The false gnashers rank alongside a life-size Dalek and an antique rocking horse, as the most bizarre items that have been found in the UK’s hotel rooms.

Other forgotten items included a £50,000 diamond-encrusted Rolex and £10,000 in cash, which was left in a dustbin.

“Our lost and found departments provide plenty of revelations,” said a spokesperson for the hotel.

The hotel chain also found the keys to a Rolls-Royce Phantom in Cheshire, a Hermes handbag worth £8,000 in Warwickshire and a suitcase full of Victorian Royal memorabilia at the hotel’s Gatwick Airport branch.

By comparison it seems guests staying in Bournemouth’s hotels are more conventional, either that or they are less forgetful.

Aside from the odd wig, sock and phone charger, the town’s hoteliers rarely have to deal with any unusual lost property.

“We had a call from someone who said they had left a bag in one of our rooms,” says Karon Banks, operations manager at the Orchid Hotel.

“My receptionist found the bag, had a look inside and there was an adult toy.” Although Adam Hambrook, manager at the Ramada Hotel, hasn’t stumbled upon any unusual items, he’s found lost property in the most unlikely places.

“We have digital safes in our rooms and quite often we find odd shoes in them,” he says.

“We’ve also found biscuits in them before.”

Figures of Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear and Woody were left behind at Bournemouth’s Premier Inn during the festivities (presumably some hapless child has already lost their Christmas present), while books are frequently forgotten by those staying in Bournemouth’s hotels.

According to Travelodge, their hotels are a popular dumping ground for celebrity autobio-graphies.

Out of the 20,000 books left in their rooms last year, the most recurring title was a biography about Simon Cowell, followed by Ant and Dec’s autobiography, Ooh What a Lovely Pair, which was the second favourite book for guests to leave behind.

Crime novelist Steig Larsson had three titles in the Travelodge’s top ten lost literature, and Stephenie Meyer had two.