A SNAKE that refused to stay at home while his family went on holiday travelled 200 miles along a motorway clinging to the roof-rack of a car.

Harry, a pink corn snake, was bought by David and Vikki Flann for their children, Thomas, nine, Jack, 11, and Holly, 14.

But shortly after they bought the reptile 10 weeks ago, it escaped from its cage on the landing of the family home, in Medway Avenue, Yalding, near Maidstone.

Mrs Flann was advised by a reptile expert that the snake would probably have got out into he garden and would be lost forever.

Knowing there was little more they could do for the errant animal, the Flanns prepared for their summer holiday, a two-week camping excursion to Dorset in early August.

When they arrived at the campsite, Mr Flann, deputy manager of Homebase in Dartford, began unloading equipment from the roof-rack of the family car.

Then, to his amazement, the little corn snake tumbled onto the ground while he was unpacking some foldable chairs that had been stored in the family's garden shed.

The snake, which had travelled on the roof-rack at 70mph for four hours, was still alive and wriggling.

"I was absolutely amazed he survived," Mr Flann said. "He managed to get out of his cage, out of the house, through the garden and into the shed without us noticing.

"We hadn't thought up a name for him and were all just calling him 'snake' but he's really part of the family now, having been on a family holiday. We've decided to call him Harry because of Harry Houdini and his great escapes."

Mrs Flann, a learning support assistant at St Peter and St Paul Primary School, Yalding, immediately called a pet shop to see what they should do for the windswept reptile.

"The shop told me there was very little chance he'd survive because he wouldn't want to eat," she said. "But we persevered with the food and bought a box to keep him warm and he seemed fine."

After being placed in a proper snake box in the family's tent, Harry stayed with the Flanns until the end of their holiday, even enjoying a two-night stay in a hotel in Bexhill before returning to Yalding.

Snakes shed their skin when they are growing and Harry has shed his since the ordeal, a sign that he is happy, healthy and unaffected by the trauma.

Corn snakes normally eat dead mice only twice a week, but since returning from his trip, Harry has discovered quite a healthy appetite.

The Flanns believe his extra snacking is due to the fact he did not eat while roaming the house and garden, before settling in the shed.

"It is quite incredible that he probably didn't eat, made it all that way on a roof-rack, and was no worse for wear," Mrs Flann added. "It's made me slightly in awe of him. He's really a snake with a story to tell now."