Winners crowned for Wiltshire's best kept villages
There was a number of different categories
The winners have been announced for the Best Kept Villages in Wiltshire this year.
There's three categories which are judged by the charity CPRE - large, medium and small village.
Thirty-three villages throughout the county were tested against the competition criteria which include tidiness, cleanliness, presentation, conservation and village community spirit.
In the first round, they were only judged within their district, and the winners then went off against each other.
The winners are:
Large village - Whiteparish
Medium village - Hindon
Small village - Rushall
The Winner of Winners' - Bratton
Newcomer Award - Heytesbury
Pawel Kisielewski, CEO of CCm Technologies, who sponsored the event, said:
“Driving through Wiltshire throughout the course of this year constantly underscores the diverse beauty of the whole county and CCm celebrates all entrants in this year’s competition, in particular Whiteparish, Hindon, Rushall and Bratton.”
Each winning village will be presented with, and keep for a year, an eight foot standard with mounted shield, usually emplaced on their village green.
Cash prizes and framed certificates will be awarded to each winning village and to 2nd and 3rd placed villages and to the Best Newcomer and Merit Award winners.
Cash prizes will also be awarded to 4th placed villages.
All villages who won in the First Round will also receive a framed certificate.
Mike Manson, CPRE Project Officer responsible for running the Competition, said:
“It is important to point out that this competition could not take place without the very generous contributions of our sponsors, the support of Wiltshire Council, the large team of volunteer judges and of course the immense hard work put in by individual parish councils and villagers. It is a joint effort but one we feel benefits Wiltshire and in particular the participating villages.”