CHILDREN'S author Michael Morpurgo OBE visited the newly re-opened Yellow-Lighted Bookshop in Nailsworth on Saturday.

The former children’s laureate and author of classic stories such as War Horse, Private Peaceful, Kensuke’s Kingdom, and Butterfly Lion formally opened the new shop in Fountain Street, signed books and met hundreds of fans.

Mr Morpurgo has recently written an animated series for the official mascots of the 2012 Olympic Games.

He and his wife Clare helped establish the charity Farms for City Children, one of which is Wick Court, based in nearby Arlingham.

“Saturday was fantastic – we had tremendous support, literally hundreds of book lovers came along to meet Michael, and it was a lovely day," said shop owner Hereward Corbett. "We are tremendously privileged that he came along and spent some time with our customers."

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop moved from Market Street to 17 Fountain Street in Nailsworth.

* Unfortunately on Monday morning staff at the Yellow-Lighted Bookshop discovered the locks had been forced and the shop had been burgled over the weekend. An Apple iMac desktop computer worth around £1,000, with leads and accessories was stolen. Anyone with information should contact police on 0845 090 1234 quoting incident number 121 of July 12. The shop will continue trading as normal.