A dog walker says she has been put off visiting woodland after her car was broken into while she was out with her pet.

The resident was walking her dog in Orlestone Forest in Hamstreet near Ashford yesterday afternoon when the break-in happened.

She had parked her car in a lay-by near the woods just after 2pm and was shocked to find one of the windows had been smashed and glass was left covering the car’s interior just 20 minutes later.

“They had pulled everything out of the centre console and glove box,” she said.

“My nine-year-old daughter had bought some seeds she wanted to plant and they had been thrown out the way along with her sweets.

“They made away with £25 cash. That’s all. I would have given them that not to trash my car.”

She added she has heard of a number of break-ins in the area recently.

“I feel a bit annoyed with myself for parking there but it is a nice woods to walk the dogs,” she said.

“I will be finding somewhere else to walk them. I walk on my own so I did stand there wondering if someone was going to jump out and grab my phone while I called my husband or if they followed me into the woods when I got there.”

She added the next day her eldest dog was acting lame and she worries he may have cut himself on some of the smashed glass.

"He won’t let me look so he’ll need to go to the vet," she said.

"It was the driver's window that was smashed which was nearest the hedge so I didn’t see it until after I had put the dogs in the boot and walked round to get in."

A spokesman for police said inquiries into the incident are ongoing and anyone with any information is urged to call them on 01843 222289, quoting reference 16-0896.

The break-in at Orlestone Forest follows a similar incident in Dering Wood, near Ashford, last summer.

A dog walker’s car window was smashed and an Amazon parcel was stolen from inside.