Fun in the sun at West Acre fete

Bright sunshine brought out a bumper crowd for West Acre's annual village fete in the Abbey House gardens on Saturday.

"This year we started an hour earlier. One till four instead of two to five," said organiser, Kelly Smith, adding that among the wide variety of attractions were nine craft stalls including hand-crafted walking sticks, jewellery, artwork and embroidery.

One stall featured Jonathan Carrie of Norfolk Hedge Baskets, who demonstrated his skills by making not only a wide range of baskets and hampers but garden features such as butterflies and dragonflies.

Refreshing beers were provided by husband and wife Miranda Hudson and brewer Derek Bates who are setting up a new micro-brewery called Duration in the village. Plans have been approved and grant funding obtained to help bring back to life a derelict Medieval barn in the Abbey grounds.

"We're bringing in power and drainage and re-furbishing it as a farmhouse brewery. We'll be brewing a combination of everyday easy-drinking beers and some more barrel-aged beers," said Miranda Hudson.

One highlight of the afternoon was duck racing on the River Nar which runs through the grounds whilst sculptor, Sir Antony Gormley, was on hand to watch young hopefuls compete at a nail-bashing side-show where six inch nails had to be driven into an enormous tree stump.

There was bowling for a pig, though the prize was a large juicy pork joint not the whole animal. However, on the coconut sky winners did come away with a whole coconut. The event, which helps fund other village events, normally raises in excess of £2,000.