VILLAGERS in Old Cleeve were looking forward to enjoying the magnificent views from a newly installed public bench overlooking the village.

But the seat had been in place less than a week when it was joined by an unwelcome rival over the bank holiday weekend - a fridge.

And dumped next to it were two black sacks containing its rotting contents. Even its fridge magnets had been left on it (see picture below).

The fridge is believed to have been 'fly tipped' on the back road from Old Cleeve to Watchet some time last Sunday.

"It definitely wasn't there on Saturday," said Old Cleeve Parish Council chairman Phil Gannon.

"It's a fairly quiet road and not used by a lot of traffic and we have always had trouble with fly tipping in that area.

"But I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the fridge there."

And another fridge or freezer was dumped just further along the road at about the same time.

The bench was one of two installed by the parish council - the other is in Washford - funded by 106 planning gain money.

"We decided to put the bench in that location because it's got beautiful views overlooking Old Cleeve," said Cllr Gannon.

"It really is disgusting that people choose to dispose of their rubbish in this way.

"We put the bench there so people could enjoy the magnificent vista and we didn't expect they would have to share the view with a household appliance."

The responsibility for removing both fridges fell to West Somerset Council because they were dumped on the roadside and not on private land.