The village was judged to be the third best in Northamptonshire ACRE’s Calor Northamptonshire Village of The Year competition, and it also won first place in the large village category.

Roger Lowe, chairman of Crick Parish Council which organised the village’s entry, said: “It’s brilliant as we’ve been runners up recently, but we’ve not won a category for a number of years.

“The competition used to be just about pretty plants and having no litter, but now it’s much more about the community and how it is to live there.

“The judge’s look at things going on for the elderly and younger residents, village organisations, all sorts.”

Kilsby took third place in both the medium sized village and newcomer categories, while the overall winner was Creaton, which also won the small village and newcomer categories.

Chairman of the judges David Scudamore said: “Our congratulations go to all of the successful villages in this year’s competition.

“We were very impressed by the standard of the villages and the judges had a very tough job selecting the winners.

“We hope that even more villages will be encouraged to participate in 2009.”