JK Rowling has gifted the film model of loveable elf Dobby to a popular hotel.

The Harry Potter author was a guest at five-star Marcliffe in Aberdeen for several months while her father-in-law was treated at the city hospital.

And the novelist was so taken with the venue she gave one of her most popular characters a new home.

The statue - used in the hit film series - is now in a glass box at the countryside retreat on the outskirts of the city.

Hotel owner Stewart Spence said Dobby arrived one day "out of the blue". A letter from ­Rowling explained she wanted to give the character a new home.

Mr Spence described the author as "very private and unassuming."