A guesthouse owner had a shock when she spotted a goat had managed to get inside her apartment in the middle of the night.
Tracey Zbinden was asleep at Belle Vue House Holiday Apartments in Llandudno when she heard strange noises outside her bedroom at 2am.
The venue was closed to visitors due to the coronavirus lockdown, so she suspected an intruder was creeping up the stairs.
But to her surprise she came face to face with a goggle-eyed goat looking for something tasty to munch.
She told North Wales Live: “I’m a light sleeper, especially with all the financial worries we've been having with the Covid pandemic.
“I heard what sounded like someone coming up the stairs.
“I sat up in bed, trying to convince myself I was imagining things.”
Unable to settle, she roused daughter Joey Staerkle from her bed in the same apartment.
Together they crept to the door, Joey clutching her mobile phone in case she needed to call the police and Tracey cracked the door open slowly.
“My heart was thumping, I don’t mind saying,” she said.
“I could definitely hear someone on the stairs and by now I was convinced we had a break-in.
“Joey was standing behind me with her phone camera in case she needed pictures for evidence.
“When we saw the goat, Joey took a quick picture and we both began laughing.”
The goat hot-footed it out of the guesthouse, leaving smelly evidence of its visit lying on the carpet.
Afterwards, Tracey realised how the horned intruder had managed to get in.
“Before going to bed I’d taken the dog out for a quick widdle and I must have left the side door unlocked,” she said.
“I thought Joey had locked it, she thought I had.
“We do have goats visiting the garden, so this one must have pushed its way in.”
In the spring lockdown Llandudno’s Great Orme goats achieved global notoriety for invading the traffic-free town centre.
Now that the UK is in lockdown again, they are again being more adventurous.
But Tracey said they are liable to make an appearance at any time, regardless of Covid restrictions.
“I have a nice green hedge, so the goats like to hop over from next door and have a good munch.”
Belle Vue House, which has 75% repeat bookings, is now tentatively taking bookings for self-catering guests at the end of April.
Beauty queen Joey, a model and former Miss Intercontinental Wales winner, said demand was good.
She added: “Even our beloved Orme goats cannot wait to be staying back at the holiday apartments!”
