A string of unexpected events has unravelled the history of a wedding dress which lay forgotten for nearly 90 years.

A village flower and fashion festival prompted a St Osyth family to find the designer dress, veil and honeymoon diary which dates back to 1919.

Sonya and Thomas Grantham dug out the garments after requests for wedding dresses and photographs for the St Osyth church flower festival over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The designer wedding dress belonged to Mr Grantham's late mother Margaret and had remained untouched for decades.

When they unearthed the garment "in a very sad state" for the festival, they decided to send it to specialist cleaners and restorers in Milton Keynes.

In a twist of fate, the owner of the cleaners discovered the dress had been made by his father at Bradleys of Chepstow Place.

"We have got the dress back and it now looks absolutely superb. We didn't know anything about it but from a whole series of coincidences we even now know who made it," said Mr Grantham.