Visitors to Princes Risborough have been left scratching their heads after brightly coloured knitted “graffiti” sprung up across the town.

The woolly creations appeared throughout the town, adorning cycle racks, railings, bollards and benches.

The culprits behind the ‘yarn bombing’ include members of the evening WI, St Mary’s Church and the town library’s ‘knit and natter’ group, who took on the challenge as part of the week-long Risborough Festival celebrations.

Yarn bombing is believed to have originated in the United States but the craze has since spread throughout the world.

The Princes Risborough Evening WI group donned their dressing gowns and crept into town at 5am to install one piece of work – called ‘dressing gowns at dawn’ – to surprise residents.

The yarn bombers have worked for a year to create enough material for the display, which had an English country garden theme.

As well as being a part of the annual festival week, the group also took the chance to raise awareness of the Princes Centre – a day care centre for elderly and disabled people in Clifford Road.

All of the knitted items will be on show until July 22 and items on display can be bought. Contact Kim Challinor at the Princes Centre for more information.