A VILLAGE scarecrow competition is bouncing back after falling victim to last year's foot-and-mouth epidemic.

Ideas are already being hatched for the latest creations to hit the main road through Sawley, near Ripon, North Yorkshire.

When the village started its contest eight years ago, to promote the annual country fair, no one realised what a hit it would be.

It also brought the community a welcome bonus by curbing speeding traffic through the village as drivers slowed down to view the colourful characters peeping from hedges, leaning over farm gates and from windows.

Until a few years ago the much sought after scarecrow prizes were decided by officials at the country fair.

The event's social secretary Martin Kirbitson said: "We decided it would be far better to let the public have their say and so we now have voting forms for them to pick up as they view the entrants."

Voters are asked to put 50p in an honesty box for a form but donations have far exceeded the number of votes cast.

One entrant from past years proved so popular that it is still in place - in the prize-winning gardens of the Sawley Arms.

There, Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men have become a permanent tourist attraction in their own right.

Some displays have been so lifelike that passers-by have been fooled into thinking the scarecrows were real - including a scare involving a "burglar" about to break into an upstairs cottage window.

Sawley's Country Fair on the village green is being held on Sunday, June 30. The scarecrows will be on display from June 19 until 29.