ROCK painters congregated in Weyside Walk in Alton on Sunday to celebrate the first birthday of Love on the Rocks UK.

Originating in the United States, the rock-painting craze started in the UK in March last year and the movement now has more than 60,000 members, with affiliated groups all over the country.

And on Sunday they hosted ‘Snail Trails with Love on the Rocks’, with the Alton group holding theirs close to Costa, which gave away two vouchers for free coffee and cake to painters of their favourite rocks.

On this occasion, the winning entries were ‘Snail having a bath’ by

Geoff and Sam White and ‘Frog riding a snail while playing Violin’ by Gemma Gundry.

According to Alton group leader Primrose Jones, the event attracted an “escargatoire” of more than 50 snail rocks for the trail and they are now hidden around the town for folk to find. Once found, the rocks can either be kept and taken home or hidden elsewhere for other people to find.