A PAINTING long thought to be of a scene in Herefordshire has been identified as a village in Monmouthshire.

The untitled artwork by Donald Floyd, who lived in the county, shows a colourful snapshot of Llanvair Discoed.

Wally and Wendy Powell, of Llanellen, purchased the painting entitled 'Unknown Herefordshire village' at a sale in Pontrilas.

The couple approached the Argus' sister newspaper, the Hereford Times, in June to try and identify the village.

"As a Herefordian myself I had a keen interest in finding out the place in the painting," said Mr Powell.

"When we found out that it was of Llanvair Discoed it was just a shock."

A woman recognised the building in the foreground of the painting as the village's old courthouse, and promptly called the Hereford Times.

The building in the background of the painting has been since been identified as The Woodlands Tavern.

The pub's owner, Keith Gibbs, described the discovery as a 'nice surprise' after Mr Powell contacted him several months ago.

He said: "It's a nice and colourful painting, and we now have a copy of it framed in the pub."

Plymouth-born Floyd, who died in 1965, had homes in Caldicot and Chepstow after his wife got a job as teacher at Caldicot School.

The family, who eventually bore a son Roger in 1927, then eventually settled in Tintern.

Many of Floyd's artworks can be found in Chepstow Museum, Monmouth Museum, the City Museum in Newport and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.