DOZENS of scarecrows greeted hundreds of visitors to a village's fourth gala weekend.

Villagers at Croft, near Darlington, had spent weeks preparing for the two-day annual event by making scarecrows to adorn their homes.

Good weather helped attract large crowds to the gala, which featured sports events, music, stalls and children's fun activities.

"Both days were very full," said one of the organisers, Charles Headon.

"At times the place looked like a busy town centre street. We'll have a better idea of numbers once we've worked out tea sales and so on, but I think we can say it was big success for the village.

"A lot of people had fun on two nice, sunny days.

"I organised the scarecrows and nearly every house in the village had at least one scarecrow outside, which was very pleasing."

Money raised will go to the upkeep of the village hall.