An elderly couple and their dogs have been dug out of their house after becoming trapped by 12ft snow drifts around the property.

Two police officers and a mountain rescue team managed to dig them out of their secluded farm house near West Linton in the Borders after they called for help on Friday afternoon.

The couple, aged 70 and 71, had run out of firewood for heating and were cut off from their coal shed by the time they were freed.

They were in good health and taken to stay with a friend along with the two dogs.

Sergeant Davey Rourke said: "The house is in a dip so was slowly being buried in snow drifts up to 12ft.

"We dug down to one of the doors where there was just 5ft of snow and thankfully got them out."

Dave Wright, from Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue, said he had not seen weather like it for years.

He added: "Quite rapidly they were getting into a dangerous situation without heat.

"They were perfectly alright when we got them out the house, they were a little bit surprised by how the situation escalated so quickly.

"I don't think they had experienced anything like that before, but this type of weather hasn't been seen for quite some time."