wild animals

Today I saw, what I am sure must be, a snake. It was smooth, orange with a black line down either side, small, about 20-25 cms in length and 1cm in width. It moved like a snake and dissapeared into the soil where I had been digging. I can find nothing that resembles it either on line or in my books but, as usual my camera was not to hand. I have previuosly seen a Slowworm in my garden but this was not the same. I have absolutely no idea how to identify it. It was very frightened of me!