WHICH came first the egg or the, er, egg?

Gloria Gibbon was taken aback when she found one of her hens had laid an egg measuring four inches from end to end.

But there was an even bigger surprise waiting inside – another egg which had started to develop.

Mrs Gibbon has been keeping chickens at her home in Woodend Road, Harrow Hill for about seven years but does not know which one provided the unusual egg.

She said: "I've never seen anything like it. It was huge.

"I boiled it and opened it carefully because I thought it might be a double-yolker.

"As the spoon went down I realised there was another egg inside it.

Mrs Gibbon said the big egg tasted "very nice".