Brave children have discovered a colony of venomous green-fanged tube web spiders in their back garden.

The youngsters, from London Road in Maidstone, have shown no fear of the fast-moving arachnids and have even begun “playing” with them.

Their mum, Amber Lewis, explained that although she has a phobia of the eight-legged creatures she has been trying really hard not to transfer her fear to her three children.

The 34-year-old said: “The spiders seem to be in every crack and crevice in the garden. There are too many to count.

“My daughter, Ffion, four, and my two twin boys, Mostyn and Morgan, both three, get a piece of thread and encourage the spiders to dash out of their tube webs and then freak out as the spider grabs the thread back into their lair.

“They’re braver than me, I would hide in the house whilst they play with them!”

Amber’s husband, 51-year-old Stuart, has lived in the family home for years as it was originally his grandparents’ home.

However, the family only noticed their green-fanged visitors for the first time last year.

Amber said: “They’ve come back this year which was a surprise.

“The part of the garden that they’re living in is an area that we’ve recently done up.

“We got rid of a shed and made a deck area. That might be the reason why we’ve only just noticed them.”

According to the British Spiders website, the creepy crawly is restricted to southern Britain and is mainly found in coastal destinations.

However, it is now increasingly being found inland and appears to be becoming more common generally.

The Lewis family live just a few roads from where another one of the spiders was spotted in Maidstone.

Nicknamed Gary, the eight-legged monster was spotted in a hole at a property in Queen’s Road.

The Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre explained that the spider sits near the entrance of the tube and will dash out and bite any unfortunate creature by injecting it with venom through its fangs.

Although not fatal it can subject humans to a painful bite that has been compared to a bee sting.

The female has metallic green fangs, hence its name.

Amber added: “Some of the spiders are more likely to come out of their webs than others.

“I’m really not a spider fan and thankfully they do keep away from the house.

“I leave Stuart and the kids to it when they’re looking for them out the back.”