Bamburgh loses out in Village of the Year

It lost out to Broughshane in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, in tonight’s grand final of the Channel 4 show.

The other finalists were Beer, in Devon, and and Hampstead Norreys, in Berkshire. 

Host Penelope Keith said: “For me you are all winners.”

She was joined by judges Alex Langlands, Juliet Sargeant and Patrick Grant on a nationwide quest to find the best village. Thousands of locations applied and they were whittled down to a select few.

Bamburgh represented the Northern Zone, a vast area from the tip of Scotland, down to Yorkshire and across to the Lake District.

In tonight’s final, each village set out their stall with a taste of their particular village life.

The judges were intrigued by one of Bamburgh’s offerings, an ancient cannon ball.

Each village presented its own grand finale challenge. Bamburgh laid on a traditional community fete, with a Great War theme.

The famous Bamburgh bangers were served up and there was a competition to bake a trench cake to a 1916 recipe put out by the government of the day.

The smallest of the four villages in the competition, the judges were bowled over by its magnificent centrepiece, mighty Bamburgh Castle,