ALDBOURNE residents are celebrating after being named best village of the year.

It was entered in the large village category of the Wiltshire Village of the Year awards by the parish council and managed to beat off competition from other Wiltshire locations, such as Box and Whiteparish, to secure the prestigious title.

Expert judging teams from the Wiltshire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England closely inspected each village and after marking them according to cleanliness, presentation and village community spirit declared Aldbourne the victor.

The village will now be presented with a mounted shield at a formal ceremony next month.

Parish council chairman Peter Lawler said: “We’re obviously delighted to have won and think it will be a very good advert for the village.

“It is a great reward for all the hard work which has been put in to get the village looking so nice."

And he added: “The village is well supported by a team of volunteers who pick up the litter in the centre so we really didn’t have to cajole people into helping.

“There is great sense of pride of place in the village which I think is what makes it such a great place to live.

“For me, the sign of that is when new people move in they say how much they enjoy living here. It’s very well the people who have lived here a long time saying it but when new people come in it means more.”

After the awards, the judges said it had been a tough competition with close placings.

The awards will be presented by CPRE Wiltshire’s President, the Lord-Lieutenant for Wiltshire, Mrs Sarah Troughton and the CEO of the Hills Group, which sponsors the competition, on October 11.