A squirrel?

i had a look in my book on british wildlife and the common dormouse is orange yellow fur with a fluffy tail they have a 3inch body and 21/2 inch tail,sounds like that could be what you saw.

just read a bit more apparently they are now quite rare,they hibernate from october to april usually below ground often in bramble thickets,they emerge at dusk to forage.
if this is him them you are very lucky.

i'd go for dormouse from the description but it is early for the critter to be out and about.

I thought dormouse aswell. Can't think what else it would be.

are you blonde

whats the purpose of your coment vineweevil?

Is who blond?

Anyway, strange cryptic comments aside, defo sounds like a dormouse to me. They are very rarely seen, so your hubby was dead lucky if indeed it was a dormouse. I believe they favour copiced hazel wood.