THE traditional red phone box is a rare sight, but one Abergavenny woman has had one standing in her garden for ten years.

Until, that is, with the help of new technology she auctioned it on the Internet, selling it to a couple in Yorkshire.

But it is a long time since the box has been used to call anyone, as Barbara Beardsmore, 70, of, Llanfihangel Crucorney, has stored her gardening tools and furniture in it and used it as a greenhouse.

Mrs Beardsmore's decision to sell came because she plans to sell up and move house after 42 years.

Her phone box was sold on the auction site e-bay for £640. Mrs Beardsmore said: "I have to move now, with regret, because this house is too old to keep and costs money, but I have had 42 years of a happy home."

She bought the phone box after youths burnt out and vandalised the one in the road outside her cottage.

Mrs Beardsmore campaigned unsuccessfully for a traditional box to replace the old one, but was told a modern yellow and black one was to be installed instead.

Mrs Beardsmore, a mother of two who now live in France, was determined to find one of her own, and bought one second hand for £100. She follows the footsteps of Welsh singing supremo Tom Jones, who had one at his Los Angeles home until he sold it to film star Nicolas Cage.

She said: "It would cost you up to £1,000 for one now." Her late husband, John, she said, was very surprised when he opened the front door one day to discover a phone box swinging from a delivery crane.

She said: "You can use them to grow tomatoes, plants, anything."