Watch: Bishop's Castle house gets a zippy new paint job

The unique design has had both visitors and residents in Bishop's Castle stopping to do a double take and get photographs of the new decor.

The row of three houses on Church Street, opposite the Six Bells pub and brewery in the town, have been painted purple, yellow and blue - but the bold colours are not the most eye-catching thing about them, because each colour has an unusual join, namely zip stretching from pavement to roof, and a jigsaw-piece pattern, either side of the central house.

Sally Chappell, who lives there, said: "My house used to be magnolia and yellow, which did not inspire me - I do love colour.

"Initially I just wanted the house painted, but I thought why don't we have a bit of fun as well?

"So I went to my neighbours and suggested we join the houses up in a friendly fashion - we're fun loving people who live in each of these houses.

"I came up with the idea and we thrashed it out between us - we wondered whether we should go with two zips or two jigsaws and decided one of each, but now the whole town says 'where are the buttons'?"

Sally, 73, is herself an artist, and worked on the design with Joe Farrington, 61, a house painter from across the road.

Mr Farrington, a former teacher, has a fine art background himself and turned out to be the perfect choice - as he once worked on an extended art project involving depictions of zips.

He said he only started his house painting business this summer so was overjoyed to get the chance to do something so bold.

He started painting the houses about two weeks ago and is still putting the finishing touches to them, he said.

"It has brought smiles to a lot of faces and everyone that has been by has been photographing it.

"The response has been positive all round."

He said there may be more houses in the town to get distinctive paint jobs.

"I've got a few more ideas," he said.