A familiar face on Dymchurch beach has won a top honour for his hard work.

Sam the donkey has been voted best donkey in the South East for the second time. The awards are run byThe Donkey Sanctuary, in Sidmouth, both as a way of rewarding good ownership of donkeys, but also to raise the profile of the sanctuary.

Sam, who previously won the award in 2005, does his duty on the sands with fellow donkeys Bella, Barney, Noddy, Ben and Floss, between Easter and the end of September.

Tommy Turnbull is his owner and has been working the beach for eight years, enjoying every minute of his time with his hooved companions, who are more complex characters than always assumed

He said: “Walking up and down the beach is all Sam’s ever done and he doesn’t know anything else. It takes three or four years to get them ready. What happens is that once they are weaned they walk with their mother up and down the beach, with physical contact between them.

“Eventually you put a bridle on, a saddle on them and then people.

“If they’re not sure of something they will stand still until the have got in their own head that they are fine. The way I sum it up is that they are stubborn, but obliging and their whole aim in life is to be a pet.

“They are certainly cleverer than horses and they love a cuddle.

“I love it, I have had great times on the beach.”

He has seen several generations coming to the beach in his time there, and is proud that the donkey walk is the longest in the South East. And he was happy to raise money for the Donkey Sanctuary, having given over the last Saturday of the season to the cause.

“The donkey sanctuary does a wonderful job, believe me,” he said.

Sam is now 18, and as donkeys live till they are 45-50, he has many more years of wandering along the sands in front of him.