DONKEYS brought smiles to faces of residents at a care home.

The donkeys, named Lulu and Paddy, visited three residential homes in Weymouth on a special one-day tour from the Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary in Devon.

Their visit was the idea of Geoff Treleaven, a member of Weymouth Baptists Church, who visited the sanctuary while he was on holiday. The donkeys are house trained and can be taken inside bedrooms to meet disabled residents.

Geoff said: "When we first suggested bringing the donkeys around we found there was a very good response. The homes loved the idea so we started to arrange it."

Geoff is part of a group that organises religious services for elderly people at five care homes in Weymouth. He joined the donkeys as they visited Furzy Way, Dorset Valley and Weymouth care homes.

Residential home owners Jenny and Alan Mann, who have run the Furzy Way Residential Home for five years, said the donkeys were a big hit with the residents.

Jenny said: "I'm trying to find somewhere that will bring us some elephants for the next visit.

"When we were first asked about it we just thought 'why not?' Whatever the residents enjoy doing I will do. It was a fantastic day and everyone seemed really happy.

"The animals were very well behaved, although Paddy is a young one and kept wandering off.

"All the residents came out to see them so we didn't have to take them indoors, but I was told that they were house trained."

Jenny said that there were plans to take able-bodied residents on a trip to visit the donkey sanctuary, which looks after 500 donkeys.