THE bomb squad was called to a house in Liphook, after a World War II grenade was found by a young woman who was out dog walking her dog on Bramshott Common on Saturday morning.

Laura Ingall found the device, which was partially buried, and took it home to show to her father, who is a fan of World War II memorabilia.

She admitted she had ‘worryingly’ kicked it to get it out of the ground.

She said: “It was sort of buried on the main track of the common with just the top poking out.

“Worryingly, I kind of kicked it to loosen it from the ground – ridiculous looking back. It didn’t have a pin in it so I thought it was just a shell and not about to explode.”

After posting a photo of her find on social media – asking ‘Is this a grenade?’, friends raised their concerns and Miss Ingall called police, who came out to inspect the device.

Miss Ignell said the officer who came out took pictures and immediately alerted the bomb squad, who feared it might be live.

She and her family were evacuated, together with residents from surrounding properties.

Miss Ignell added: “I left it at the end of my driveway and they dealt with it. By that time I had been evacuated and disappeared in embarrassment.”

Hampshire Constabulary later confirmed an Army Royal Logistic Corps’ bomb disposal team found the device was not live.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman added: “The inert hand grenade was recovered for reduction to scrap.”

Bramshott Common, which stretches along both sides of the A3, was home during WWI and WWII, to tens of thousands of Canadian soldiers, who became part of the community of Bramshott and Liphook.

The land belongs to the MoD which still uses it as a training area for the Army.