A WOMAN from Polruan spotted a UFO hovering over Fowey around the same time as other myserious sightings were made across the country.

The national newspapers were full of reports over the new year of strange lights seen over Conisholme in Lincolnshire as "orangey-yellow spheres".

At 5.45pm on Christmas Day, Polruan fitness instructor, yoga teacher and crystal healer, Tessa Skola, and her mother, Doreen, were at Tessa's cottage in West Street.

Tessa saw through the kitchen window what she first thought were the bright head lamps of a car going along the Esplande in Fowey, near the Whitehouse ferry slip.

"It had been so quiet," said Tessa. "There hadn't been a sound all day. There was an incredible stillness in the air. As I watched, the lights started to become larger and brighter – really dazzlingly bright – as one light moved on top of the other, forming a bell-shaped object, the size of a largish house, with what looked like a thin, shiny metal base.

"Very slowly it began to glide along, travelling in the direction of Readymoney Cove, first below the Esplande and above the Rope Walk, before it entered the dark area where there are no houses and no road. After about four minutes, it began to wobble a bit, before it changed direction and began to cross the harbour to Polruan.

"Mother and I went out on to my little balcony and saw it passing over the old chapel in West Street before it disappeared from view, travelling in the direction of St Saviour's Hill.

"There was no sound; just complete stillness and the whole thing from my first sighting lasted about five minutes.

"Three days later at 10pm on Sunday, December 28 we saw it again. This time it was mother who saw it first. There were the same two bright lights, one on top of the other, with the same small gap in-between, and it seemed to be somewhere above Squires Field.

"This time, however, it was only about one minute before the two lights separated at great speed. I thought it was going to start moving but suddenly the lights just disappeared, as if someone had thrown a switch, and it was completely dark once more. Again, there was no sound, just complete silence."

Although Doreen had never seen a UFO before, it was Tessa's fourth sighting. They said the incidents were "not in the slightest bit frightening" and both used the words "magical", "serene" and "beautiful" to describe their experience. Added Tessa: "The size of it completely rules out a helium balloon or a floating lantern.

"And being completely silent means it could not have been any kind of aircraft. It's all a complete mystery.

"Neither of us could believe what we had seen. It made a deep impression on us and we couldn't stop talking about it afterwards."

Tessa has reported both sightings to the www.ufowatch.com website.