A FAMILY is offering a reward for the return of their son's hand-built wooden boat after it was stolen from its mooring.

Artists Simon and Julie Cooper say the blue painted rowing boat Mal de Mer, which means sea sickness in French, vanished from the grounds of their home at Elcombe in Slad at the weekend.

"It was a pretty boat, quite distinctive, with a gilded cherub carved on the front," Mrs Cooper said.

"We're prepared to offer £50 to anyone with information leading to its recovery."

The clinker-built vessel took her son Brendan, now 18, six months to make during a project at Wynstone's School in Brookthorpe several years ago.

The materials alone cost the family around £600.

"Brendan is very upset. It was the perfect size for the rather large pond at the bottom of the field of our house," said Mr Cooper.

"It was an Eastport pram with a flat front, probably about eight feet long."

The family, which also includes the couple's nine-year-old son Laurie, is sure a vehicle must have been used to cart the heavy boat away, possibly in the Swift's Hill direction.

They are hoping someone may have seen the thieves acting suspicious in the quiet, rural area between noon last Friday and the same time the following day.

A Gloucestershire spokeswoman confirmed the theft of the dinghy and urged anyone with information to ring 0845 090 1234 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.