Bemused residents in part of York were scratching their heads and looking skyward today after making a chilling discovery on their doorstep.

Had toys spilled from the hold of a passing passenger jet and frozen as they fell? Or had Father Christmas lost a load on a pre-Yuletide practice run from Lapland?

Neither. York artist Benedict Phillips, 30, of Fulford Road, was behind the surprise appearance of a mass of ice cubes, filled with resin-coated toys and gifts, on the old Imperial Hotel site in Crichton Avenue, Clifton, this morning.

Benedict, who calls his creation Melting Mail, is filming people's reactions to the metre-square monolith, formed from ten blocks created by an ice expert.

The footage will form part of the Culture Company's Brilliant exhibition at Impressions Gallery in York on November 16.

He said: "It has attracted quite a lot of spectators. If it remains untouched, the ice could last three to four days, and I will be coming back to film what happens each day."