VILLAGERS in Wootton Courtenay celebrated the return of their scarecrow festival at the weekend with 17 entries going on public display across the community.

A scarecrow trail map was produced for people to tour the Exmoor village to take in the variety of entries, which ranged from the funny to the poignant.

The event raised £500, including two donations, for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance charity, which is experiencing increased costs with the rising price of aviation fuel caused by the war in Iran.

Entries were judged by Gabrielle and Jim Horrobin and Keith Eagle, and winners were announced on Sunday (May 10) during a barbecue on the village playing field.

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'CRACKed POTter' by Helen Jones was judged most creative in Wootton Courtenay's scarecrow festival. PHOTO: Ruth Walker.

The people’s favourite, and one which made everybody smile was a scarecrow version of Wootton Courtenay’s village postman Adam Biddle, who was delighted when asked if he could be modelled as a scarecrow and later photographed with his alter ego.

A new word was learned - ‘stiykist’, which is Ukranian for ‘resilience’, with a display which reminded onlookers that, sadly, war continues on Europe’s border and how fortunate residents were to live in such a lovely community and in such peace as in Wootton Courtenay.

The winning scarecrows were:

  • Most creative - Helen Jones with CRACKed POTter
  • Most sustainable - Peter Stenner with Bert, the Beekeeper
  • Funniest scarecrow - Terry Walker with Satnav Malfunction
  • Best named scarecrow - Sue Loftus and Dawn Mackie with Bob Barley and the Whalers (‘Three Little Birds’)
  • Most topical scarecrow and best in show - Martin and Carrie Ball with Stiykist
  • The people’s favourite - Sarah Fox with Our Postie with the Mostie

It was the first scarecrow competition in the village for 16 years, since 2010, and the organisers decided against setting a theme for it, instead allowing people to use their own imaginations and creativity.