A York wood-turner has become a head-turner thanks to his fetchingly unusual headwear made entirely of wood.

Appropriately-named Stan Wood, who lives in the Burnholme area of the city, has a penchant for making cowboy hats out of wood and says they are so comfortable, he can wear them for "hours on end".

It was after Stan took up line dancing a few years ago that he decided to expand on his hobby of carving wood.

Most of his wood-turning is done at the Wood Turning Centre, at Snainton, near Scarborough, and, after discussing the idea with friend and centre-owner Rob Thompson, the first wooden hat was made, using wood from a lime tree.

Stan admitted the wooden hat concept was not his idea and that he has heard of at least one other person who makes wooden hats.

He said: "You don't see them every day of the week. They are very comfortable and I could wear them for hours on end.

"They are shaped to fit my head. It's strictly a fun thing and a bit of amusement. I've had tremendous pleasure out of it."

And Stan's hats always have the potential to confuse fellow line dancers.

"They don't realise what it is. They think it's leather but when they know what it's made out of, they ask to feel it."