We had an unusual visitor to our Kingsbridge newsroom on Tuesday (August 30) in the form of miniature pony called Patrick.

Four year old Patrick is a therapy pony and recovery mascot supporting mental health and wellbeing in Devon and is owned by Kirk Petrakis.

Manager of the Devon Recovery Learning Community Caroline Nicholson said: “If you would like to meet Patrick, he usually visits the Mental Health Recovery Library and Drop-In on the last Tuesday of the month at some point between 1.30pm and 4.30pm at Tumbly Hill.”

Patrick has become a bit of a celebrity and has featured recently in the Washington Post and on German TV.

Caroline continued: “Patrick shows how wonderful the connection is we have with animals and how they can help with mental health and wellbeing. It’s part of a free and open-access service run by the NHS.

Patrick has a Facebook Page which is The Adventures of Patrick the Pony and you can e-mail him via [email protected].