The 7th Annual Torteval Scarecrow Festival took place this weekend in Guernsey over Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th August 2010 and was bigger and more popular than ever before.

This year saw 57 exhibits including:

'Gorgon of Les Galliennes'
'Traditional Torteval Scarecrow'
'Len Le Hayge'
'Rocquaine Reuben'
'Noah's Ark'

to name but a few.

I had not been to this event before and having looked at the event's official website and seen the previous years' entries, decided it was well worth a visit. I was immediately shocked at how packed the car park was and how many people had turned up for the event.  I also noticed the banners for the Guernsey's Alzheimer's Assocation charity and their new website which is coming soon - www.alzheimers.gg - but for now, more information can be gained using this link.

The Torteval Scarecrow Trail 2010 - Les Babouains took visitors from the Church Car Park around several nearby lanes and back again, taking approximately an hour and a half to walk.  The trail was so popular that there were crowds of people and families walking it together and eagerly queuing to tick off the next scarecrow on their list.

It was great fun to see each design as they varied from scarecrows that were traditional, fun and a little bit cheeky - quite literally!  Visitors also had the opportunity at the end of the trial to vote their favourite, funniest and most original scarecrow.  

The cheekiest were 'Full Moon' where two scarecrows were seen bending over doing 'mooners', 'Peeping Tom' where Tom was spying on a young lady scarecrow and 'The Rude Gardener' who was also having some trouser issues and 'mooning' the crowds!

Some designs took the 'word' scarecrow to extreme including 'Hung Parliament' (a building like the Houses of Parliament with a rope around it) to which I heard a young boy say "but that's not a scarecrow"!  I did laugh as I had just been told off by my husband for saying the same thing rather too loudly for his liking!

I personally was very impressed with two particular scarecrows, 'Len Le Hayge' (pictured to right) and 'Big Ben' (pictured below) which appealed to me for very different reasons.  

'Len Le Hayge' because it made me chuckle and had such great attention to detail.  I think I was also a little biased because a ginger cat had placed itself within the scene which added additional character.

However, both my husband and I separately picked 'Big Ben' as our winner for being a traditional scarecrow with bags of character and straw! It had obviously taken the entrant a lot of time and effort to make.  Not sure which scarecrow will be the official people's favourite but well done to all the organisers, including co-organiser - Sue Brooks, all the volunteers and last but not least all 57 entrants.  Good luck!

Next year's 8th Torteval Scarecrow Festival will be on 30th and 31st July 2011 - so put this date in your diary now as it is a event not to missed!