A TEESDALE village has seen the results of more than a year’s planning come to fruition.

Residents of Hutton Magna worked together to design a three-and-a-half tonne stone information board for the village green, which was unveiled on Saturday (September 20).

The Yorkshire limestone has been specially sourced from a local quarry and measures almost one metre wide, one metre tall and 1.5 metres deep.

Billy Brophy, chairman of Hutton Magna parish meeting, has been the driving force behind the new addition to the village.

He said: “We had various people, including children, come together to create artwork for the board.

“Two artists drew the village, children drew aspects of the village like tractors and flowers, other people drew wildlife, and it’s all been incorporated into the design.”

The light brown coloured stone, which includes an ordinance survey map, is so big and heavy that a local farmer from Hutton Hall Farm was needed to help get it into place using heavy duty farming machinery.

Mr Brophy, of Hutton Magna, added: “We get a lot of walkers passing through, many of them sit on the village green to have their lunch and I’m hoping that people will come to the village to see the attraction.

“It’s a beautiful piece of stone, and we hope it’s going to be there for a really long time - it’s been absolutely wonderful seeing everybody come together.

“We’ve had a really good turn out today and it’s better than I ever could have imagined.

“We are only a very small village but we are very good at working together, as a community.”

The idea came from a parishioner who heard that there was a grant available for a community project and suggested an information board.

“I am hoping this will literally put Hutton Magna on the map, it is another attraction for our lovely little village.

“We have an old telephone box that has been turned into a news box where more information about the village will be inserted for people to read.

“From beginning to end it has been a community project and it has been absolutely wonderful."

Doreen Dodd, a resident of Hutton Magna for almost 13 years, said: “I think it’s brilliant. We were thinking it was going to be too big but it’s lovely. It fits in perfectly with the surroundings.”

The project has been made possible by the Heart of Teesdale Landscape Partnership and the Heritage Lottery Fund.