KEEPING the birds at bay will be top priority for villagers competing in Flamstead s annual Scarecrow Festival. Now in its eighth year, the Scarecrow Festival invites villagers to display their homemade scarecrows in their front gardens for the competitio

KEEPING the birds at bay will be top priority for villagers competing in Flamstead's annual Scarecrow Festival.

Now in its eighth year, the Scarecrow Festival invites villagers to display their homemade scarecrows in their front gardens for the competition, which takes place between Friday 21 August and Sunday 23.

At least 90 scarecrows are expected to be entered into the competition and visitors to the event, who purchase a voting form at the start of the day, will be responsible for picking the winning scarecrow.

One of the highlights is sure to be Amy "Scary" Winehouse, the creation of Flamstead resident Fran Bryant.

Fran has been using Amy to help publicise the festival, having taken the top prize at last year's event.

Fran hopes to repeat the achievement this time, but the identity of this year's entry is a carefully guarded secret. "Although the festival is lots of fun, the local residents take a lot of time and trouble making their scarecrows and it can get quite competitive," said Fran, who has taken part in all but one of the previous events.

"It took me three days to make Amy and she has had a busy year. She even made a special guest appearance at this year's Herts County Show."

As well as walking the scarecrow trail, visitors to the festival can also enjoy a cream tea at the village hall, a wide range of foodie attractions at the three local pubs including a hog roast at The Spotted Dog, and folk dancing in the village hall car park.

All the money raised on the day will go towards the upkeep of the village church and the Herts Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre. To find out more about the festival, visit www.flamstead-herts.co.uk