THE Duke Hotel in Hilmarton was awash with laughing children running amok in the hay as families made preparations for next month’s Hilmarton Scarecrow Festival.

Around 20 scarecrows were made during a workshop last Friday and Saturday for the coming scarecrow trail, which this year will be themed around professions.

Organiser Gail Carrol, 55, who runs the Duke Hotel, said: “It was very good and it was really well attended. On Friday morning there was a lot of people over with their youngsters.

“There was a lot kids running around in the hay which left us all giggling.

“Loads of the members of the community were there to help people make the scarecrows. They were helping everyone, giving them ideas of what they should be doing.

“People made the basic scarecrow and they will decorate it to their own spec in their own time.”

The money raised from the festival will go to support Hounds for Heroes, a charity providing assistance dogs to injured and disabled people of the armed forces and emergency services.

The band Mangled Wurzels will provide the entertainment at the evening barn dance on the Saturday night and will be performing on stage in the Duke car park from 9pm.

Mrs Carrol, who has been a publican since 1993, added: “Previously the workshop has been done in a house but it was really quite messy so I applaud those people who were doing it in their houses.

“Most people do not know how to make them and the workshop is just to give them a helping hand.

“We pretty much used whatever bits and bobs of materials that we could find and made them as well as we could.

“My boys are all grown up now so they could not be there but I enjoyed playing around with the kids from the village.”

Tickets for the festival, which takes place on the weekend beginning May 7, are available from The Duke for £10, which will include entertainment and a hog roast.