The ninth annual event had the added bonus of hot sunny weather on Saturday while Sunday stayed dry.

Organisers have estimated up to 14,000 people came to the village to see the 135 scarecrow entries which included scarecrow mechanics, astronauts and even pigs.

Throughout the weekend there was also a host of activities such as fairground rides on the green, live music, an art exhibition at the village hall and a display of classic vehicles and pony rides.

Jim Burbidge, chairman of the event committee, said: "It was an absolutely wonderful weekend. We had a record amount of visitors and entries for the scarecrow competition.

"There were some very imaginative ideas. A lot of people took advantage of the good weather and actually walked from Harborough. All the food stalls sold out as well so they had to get more supplies from the shops."

He added: "Last year we raised £12,000 and I know we've raised more than that this time round, which is great. The final total is still to be counted."

Among the crowds supporting the event were rugby stars Martin Johnson and Martin Corry with their families.

The winner of the scarecrow festival was Juliana Ball of Main Street, with her spider scarecrow. She also made a video report of the festival which you can watch by hitting the green 'Play' symbol at the top of the page.

In second place was Harvey Shaw, of Rushes Lane, with his robot-like scarecrows called Crowbots.

And in third place was Roger Cooper, of Tower Court, with his Situation Normal, which was scarecrow mechanics under cars. The scarecrow voting prize of £10 went to Chrissy and Ruby of Husbands Bosworth.

The first prize in the raffle of £150 cash went to D M Ellis of Sutton Bassett and second prize of £75 cash went to Wittan of Lutterworth.