POLICE have seized thousands of pounds worth of cannabis plants that were being grown at a Dorset beauty spot.

A member of the public spotted the mature plants growing in woodland near the Matchams viewpoint on Wednesday morning.

Officers were called at 11.53am, and quickly attended to seize the haul of 25 plants, worth thousands of pounds on the street.

PCSO Adam Fitzwalter of West Moors, St Leonards and St Ives Safer Neighbourhood Team said: "Local police officers attended a wooded area in the area of the Matchams viewpoint and recovered a large number of cannabis plants being grown in the outdoors.

"We estimate the yield of these plants to have a value of several thousand pounds.

"National intelligence suggests that more than 60 per cent of cannabis consumed in the UK is now homegrown."

Cannabis plants can be grown outdoors, with particular strains of the drug being bred specifically for outdoor growth.

Typically, cannabis can be grown outside between April or May and October in the UK.

Dawn Rumens, who works at Hurn Stores, said she was shocked by the discovery.

"I'm astonished to hear that to be honest," she said.

"I've never heard of something like that happening before. I wouldn't have thought anything could grow there apart from ferns."

Police investigating yesterday confirmed that the cannabis was being cultivated deliberately.

In March, equipment that can be used for growing cannabis was discovered by the side of a major road.

Bags of compost, heat lamps and plastic tubs used for storing chemicals were discovered in a ditch on the A338 Spur Road southbound close to Ashley Heath.

And two years before that, a similar haul was discovered in a stream next to a lay-by on the northbound side of the road.

Heat lamps, plant pots, fertiliser and chemical containers were discovered on the stretch in 2013.

The dumped items included electrical cables and a ventilation system that would have been used to spread heat around several rooms in a house being used for marijuana cultivation.

Bags of soil and chemical containers marked with warning signs were also discovered.