Residents around Darlington and Newton Aycliffe were "disgusted" by an awful smell.

One resident described how it made her feel "nauseous" and she had a terrible headache the next day.

The Environment Agency have confirmed that the smell was from land spreading activity on nearby fields.

A spokesperson from the Environment Agency said: "We attended the landfill site to investigate reports of odours in the area and found no issues.

"The odours are consistent with land spreading activity on nearby fields that we know took place on Monday and Tuesday."

A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "We were sat watching TV on Monday night and had left the bathroom window open.

"Once we opened the front door, the smell was really obvious and drifted through the house.

"Due to my husband and daughter being asthmatic we couldn’t spray anything so had to go to sleep with the house smelling of refuse.

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"I slept really badly and woke up the morning after with the house - and village - still smelling.

"I had a terrible headache, itchy eyes and felt nauseous which isn’t great when you’ve got to travel.

"I took my daughter to college and noticed the smell was drifting over sections of Darlington as well."