Look out Royal Mail!!!....

There's a man in Cornwall who delivers the mail.... on a Penny Farthing.

With the hike in stamp prices most of us have no option but to stump up the cash - but Graham Eccles of Bude has decided to offer his local community a cheaper, alternative postal service.

'Postman' Graham Eccles on his Penny Farthing

The Penny Farthing post is a mail service with a difference; letters around town are personally delivered by Graham on his penny farthing bike. The stamps, designed and printed by the postman himself, cost 25p - a saving of 35p on first-class Royal Mail stamps!

"When i heard about the rises, I realised that my idea, which was initially just aimed at tourists, had legs" said Graham. "Three weeks in I deliver around 100 letters a day"

Graham initially printed only 480 stamps - within 2 days he'd sold out and the local shops that act as his 'post offices' selling stamps and collecting items for delivery were clamouring for more. "At the end of my first week I was dropping to bits" added Graham "I wasn't used to cycling 15 miles a day and my penny farthing needed a new back wheel"

The reaction has been nothing but positive - Graham is now working on designing his own post boxes made from converted gas bottles and painted bright yellow. For the time being Graham is sorting the mail in his kitchen - but his dream is to have his own post office centre with his partner Jayne as postmistress - "I want to encourage the younger generation to love the written word. Everyone's growing up with texting but receiving a letter is special"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17619173