A NEWFOUNDLAND dog became the hero of the hour when he rescued a young girl who got into trouble while surfing.

Mia Summons, 10, was holidaying with her grandparents in West Buckland when she went surfing, with her grandfather Clive Wells watching from the beach.

The current at Bantham beach is notorious and it started taking Mia out to sea.

The story came to light when Mia, who lives in Redhill, Surrey, with her parents and twin brother Elliot, re-lived the event for an English homework project.

She wrote in her essay: 'The current was pushing me out further and further, until it was so strong I couldn't beat it. I to paddle for the shore, but the current was too strong. My surfboard was taking me away.

'My grandpa was on the shore going nuts – so nuts that he asked a Newfoundland dog trainer, who was on the beach with his dog, to come and save me! The dog took me back to shore and all was well.'

For more on this story, see this week's Kingsbridge & Salcombe Gazette