A QUIET farm had its peace broken as police used the land to detonate an unexploded hand grenade.

Two grenades were found by a resident in Freshbrook when they were giving their garage a spring clean.

He called the police who attended with the bomb control unit and removed the potentially dangerous ammunition.

The grenades were taken to an unnamed farm between Swindon and Royal Wootton Bassett, where a small hole was dug before they were destroyed by a controlled explosion.

Nearby resident Ian Evans photographed the moment the grenades were destroyed.

He said: “It happened on Thursday afternoon. The police showed up with the bomb disposal unit and they asked if they could carry out a controlled explosion in the field.

“It was a bit of a surprise to see the bomb disposal unit turn up at the farm.

“They went into the centre of the field and put them in the ground before covering them. They put a lead across the field to the van and ensured the area was clear before detonating the device.

“This is the first time I have ever seen anything like this and it all happened so quickly.”

A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman said: “We were called at 3.59pm to a residential address in Freshbrook.

“A member of the public was clearing out a garage and found what he believed to be two grenades.

“We attended the scene and thought that one of them might have been potentially live.

“The bomb disposal team were called to the address and removed the items. They got to the farm and the farmer agreed that they could be detonated at the location. One of the grenades was disposed of just after 7pm.

“Although it is quite an unusual incident to find two grenades the member of the public did exactly the right thing by contacting the police. We would not advise anybody to try and handle any kind of potentially explosive device.”