EVER polished off your plate and still fancied a bit more to eat? Then Fairfax House, in York, has just the thing - edible knives and forks.

Snacking on the cutlery not only helps fill the heartiest appetite, but for some it could be doubly beneficial by saving on washing up.

Yesterday, brother and sister Conor and Aoife Matchet, aged six and five respectively, had some fun putting the idea to the test.

Fairfax House, a restored Georgian town house, is home to a collection of cutlery through the ages as part of its Cutting Edge exhibition.

Cutlery includes what the Romans used to get at their snails, and what the Vikings used to fillet their herrings.

The most bizarre items on display are tinplate moulds once used to make chocolate knives and forks.

Made in the 1920s, probably in Germany, the moulds would have been used by youngsters to make their own novelty cutlery.

"Perhaps they were used as an inducement for the youngsters to eat up their cabbage with the promise of having the cutlery for afters," said house director Peter Brown.

Conor and Aoife, on their half-term break from St Aelred's primary school in York, needed little encouragement to try them.

The cutlery was provided by collector Bill Brown.

Mr Brown said: "They are not in themselves valuable compared with many of the stunningly beautiful examples of cutlery Bill collected over the years. But they are still collectors' items which he picked up on his travels, intrigued by the thought of edible cutlery.