A seven-year-old from Deal was delighted when his message in a bottle was returned after travelling all the way to Denmark.

Matthew Friend, of Sandown Road, sent his bottle out to sea off Deal Pier in October and on December 22 it was found at the northern tip of Denmark.

Inside had been a letter from the Hornbeam Primary School pupil and a toy car that the man who found it kindly returned with a letter of his own.

The letter said: “Dear Matthew, I am writing to you because I found your message in a bottle. The bottle has driven a long way – all the way up to the northernmost point of Denmark, namely Skagen.

“I found it on December 22, 2014, when I was out walking with our dog on the beach.”

Mr Werner Larsson finished the letter with a map and a picture of where he found the bottle on the beach and a picture of himself and his dog.

Matthew’s dad, Andy Friend, said: “He’s really chuffed, he couldn’t believe it. I was hoping it would come back but we thought maybe some kids would find it and smash it.

“When we set it off we could see the current taking it out so we were hoping it might get to France or Belgium if we were lucky.

“I think all the kids are going to do it now so there’s going to be so many bottles on the beach.”

Mr Friend explained his son is going to write a letter back to thank Mr Larsson.

He added: “I can’t believe someone has taken the time to do this, when the letter came through the post I was a bit shocked. What a nice person to do this. Matthew is one happy boy.”