GARDENERS at Fisherton farm allotments in Salisbury were left picking up the pieces of broken cold frames and ruined vegetables after a herd of cows got on to the land.

About 20 cows broke loose recently and trampled everything in their path.

A spokeswoman for Salisbury police said three officers went to the scene about 8.30am on April 15.

"The farmer arrived with another man and they rounded up the cows and herded them back into the adjoining field," she said.

A woman walking along the riverside spotted footprints and thought they had been made by deer.

"But a man walking his dog told me cows had got into the allotments," she said.

"Maybe the river was so low at Stratford that the cows crossed the river and went walkabout. They had run all over everything."