A TERRIFIED Pembroke Dock family had to barricade themselves inside when a 30,000 strong swarm of bees descended on their home last week.

Susan Hughes, aged 32, of 20 Argyle Street, was at home with her eight year-old son Louis and three year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, when the swarm started to hover near her house.

She said: "I've never seen so many bees, my son was absolutely terrified. They were like a massive black cloud and the noise they made was horrendous."

Mrs Hughes first became aware of the bees when a neighbour turned up on her doorstep and suggested she shut all her windows.

The bees were all over the side of the house and by the drain pipe for around four hours before moving into the roof where they set up home.

Neighbour, John Oak, aged of 11 Argyle Street, who first spotted the swarm, said: "I have been around bee hives before, but I have never seen that many bees around the drainpipe. The roof was thick with them.

"My wife was in the car and she had to use her wipers to clear the bees from her windscreen."

A police spokesman confirmed they had received several phone calls about the swarm and called round to Argyle Street. She said: "The bees were everywhere, crawling all over the roof."

A pest control officer from Pembrokeshire County Council finally got rid of the unwelcome visitors on Monday, after they had been living in the roof for seven days.

Pembroke bee-keeper of over 30 years, David Tinker, who visited the house, said that when bee hives expand they get a new queen and settle in a different location and it was just by chance they had chosen the home of the Hughes family.