To anyone who's seen Postman Pat, it all sounds very familiar - a friendly black and white cat who helps out in a Post Office.

Only this is not Greendale, but Callander - and the cat's not Jess, but Dandy.

Dandy was born to a feral mother in an air vent above the old sorting office at the town's post office and has never left.

At first the little stray was very shy, but the Menzies family, who run the post office, fed her and gradually gained her trust.

Now, 18 years later, the black-and-white cat is as much a fixture as the weighing machine and mail bags, greeting tourists and locals from her favourite spot on the counter. She even gets Christmas cards.

Postmaster Hamish Menzies, 82, said: "Dandy was a stray - feral, really - and she was very nervous and it took ages before she became friendly. But she's made herself a home here. She's quite a character.

"There were two kittens but the other one was killed on the road and after that she really settled in.

"Now she looks for folk coming in and makes a beeline for them. She's the very opposite of how she was. You couldn't get a more friendly cat. She loves being stroked - it makes her day."