THE scarecrow festival in Urchfont gets bigger and better every year, say the organisers.

This year they claim to have attracted more than 5,000 people from all over the country to their event, which took place over the bank holiday weekend. Between Saturday morning and Monday evening, 600 sausages, 500 hamburgers and 200 rashers of bacon were consumed in the food marquee beside the village pond, while more than 1,000 programmes for the scarecrow trail and prize quiz were sold.

Many villagers made cakes for the food stall and not one was left by Monday night. Dozens of volunteers helped construct scarecrows, dress them, man the tea stall and barbecue and clear up after each day.

Jean Thomas, a member of the organising committee, said: "We think we have made a profit in the region of £3,000 to £3,500, about £1,000 up on last year.

"It gets bigger year by year, and the number of volunteers who come forward to have a scarecrow in their gardens keeps growing as well."

This year's theme was jobs, occupations and professions, and visitors had to match the scarecrows to cryptic clues in the programme to enter the prize-winning competition.

Urchfont was the first village in the county to host a scarecrow festival, although the idea has been copied since.