A POPULAR scarecrow festival raised more than £1,000 for good causes and attracted visitors from across the region.

This year's festival, in Middleton St George, near Darlington, on October 3 and 4, was the third staging of the trail.

It was hosted by local mum Shirley Gray, with support from businesses and in particular the village cricket club, which distributed the trail maps.

In total, 381 groups of families and friends took part, with visitors from Marske, Sunderland, Durham, South Tyneside, Consett and as far afield as Manchester.

Shirley said: “It was an opportunity to use the facilities of the cricket club, Café Italissimo, and The Devonport, Londis and Country Harvest shops during the day. We also received wonderful prizes for the top four amazing scarecrows voted for by all scarecrow-goers, a lucky dip draw for one lucky group, who completed the voting/trail form, and over 28 raffle prizes from local business and residents to help raise further funds.

"In total, we raised £1,216.20, which is a wonderful amount to contribute."

The money will be shared by Team Charley Madelung's Awareness, which raises funds for the Treetops children's ward at the University Hospital of North Durham in the name of a young girl with a rare condition causing wrist deformities, and Joseph’s Dream, a charity set up for Darlington boy Joseph Teasdale, who is unable to walk or talk because of a condition so rare it does not have a name.

The scarecrow winners were: 1 Coco (Disney film), 2 Mini Olympics, 3 The Cat Rescue, 4 Peter Rabbit and Mr McGregor.