Huge landslide leaves luxury homes teetering on cliffs

A huge landslide has slid on to a beach in Wales, leaving homes teetering on the edge of a cliff.

Luxury houses have been left in a precarious position over the beach at Nefyn, near Pwllheli, in north Wales.

The landslide on Monday pulled large parts of clifftop gardens and even a wooden bench on to the shore.

Thousands of tonnes of rocks plunged down on to the beach at about 11am.

"We'd just gone down for a walk and turned round and had the shock of our lives,” said hairdresser Christian Pilling.

"I don't think anyone was on the beach. We'd gone down there about half an hour after it happened.

"It's a good 40m wide but it's hard to tell - it is so big."

Friend Elise Leyshon said: "It is so lucky that no one was on the beach on a Monday morning. Yesterday it was full of people.

"They would stand no chance if they were caught by that landslide. It is incredible."

Neighbour Steve Wilding-Hewitt said: "I've never seen anything like it. The police have cordoned a large area off to keep people away from the scene.

"We could see the coastguard shouting to someone in their garden to stay away from the edge because it was still moving.

"There are some gardens that have been affected. You can see a bench that was at the end of the one of the gardens has fallen into the mud below.

"There have been some rockfalls around this coastline for a number of months, but never anything like this. It is frightening."

The small village of Nefyn has a long, sandy bay sheltered by the Nefyn Headland and backed by steep slopes.

No casualties have been reported.

A North Wales police spokesman said: "We are aware of people gathering to take photographs - the public are advised to avoid the area until further notice.

"The public are advised to avoid the area until further notice, whilst emergency services and utility companies make the area safe."