The village of Charlton were presented with its Laurence Kitching Award during a presentation on Sunday.

The award was part of this year's Wiltshire Best Kept Village Competition, to find the villages in the county that are best cared for.

Six winning villages from the 2017 and 2018 Best Kept Village Competitions were ineligible to compete in the main competition but were encouraged to enter the Laurence Kitching Award, the 'winners of winners' competition.

This year Charlton, Hullavington, Biddestone and Mildenhall all entered and were judged in July.

The judges described Charlton as “a delightful village” and they “were so impressed with it that it was hard to find much to criticise”.

They particularly liked the attractive village hall, the cricket field and football pitch, the children’s playground, noticeboards and the pub.

The ample provision of litter and dog poo bins had resulted in “a commendable lack of litter”.

As with the other winners, the village community had “clearly taken trouble and pride in making the village a beautiful and vibrant place”.

The winner’s plaque was presented to Anne Hodgkins, chair of the parish council, by The Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire, Mrs Sarah Troughton.

The High Sheriff of Wiltshire, Mr David Scott, presented the accompanying certificate.

Charlton also received a £200 prize.

Judging criteria include, amongst others, the state of roadside hedges and walls, residential gardens, public areas and buildings, footpaths, churchyards, external areas around schools and churches, notice boards, litter and also an indication of community spirit.

A common factor in achieving success was that clearly many people had been involved in both large and small ways, with a collective, community effort that had obviously generated great and justifiable pride in each village’s appearance.