WHAT makes the perfect village?

West Dorset has a few of them, but it’s Charmouth and Burton Bradstock which are set to feature in a new television show aiming to hunt down the Village of the Year.

In the show, Penelope Keith and her team of expert judges each visit a village to spend time with the quirky characters who populate local village life. They visit quintessentially British village fetes, scarecrow championships and even Second World War festivals. Penny discovers the origins of stunning local architecture and reveals curious rural pastimes, as well as forgotten traditions, bygone skills and home-grown specialities. 

Nestled on the Jurassic Coast, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, villagers in Charmouth are hoping their home will beat off competition for the coveted first place.

But Burton Bradstock, in the Bride Valley at the western end of Chesil Beach also has plenty to boast about.

The village welcomes countless visitors every year, with plenty of places to eat, drink, stay and shop, and is also home to the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, which boasts its own fossil collections.

More than 400 villages across the country applied for the top spot, and experts narrowed down a shortlist, which have all been visited by Penny and the judges, archaeologist and village historian Alex Langlands, garden designer Juliet Sergeant who broke ground as the first black designer at the Chelsea Flower show and went on to win the gold medal, and fashion designer and presenter of The Great British Sewing Bee Patrick Grant.

A spokesman for the show said: “From the village that hosts the most spectacular custard pie throwing championships, to surfing communities in mid-Wales; the pretty village that prospered on the back of Ospreys re colonising, to villagers who carry beer barrels across mountains and down dales. Village of the Year captures all that is great about our rural communities.In the show, Penelope and her team of expert judges each visit a village to spend time with the quirky characters who populate local village life.

They visit quintessentially British village fetes, scarecrow championships and even Second World War festivals. Penelope discovers the origins of stunning local architecture and reveals curious rural pastimes, as well as forgotten traditions, bygone skills and home-grown specialities.”

The show starts on Channel 4 on Monday, January 15 and will be screened daily (Monday to Friday) at 3pm with a peak time show every Saturday at 8pm. The winner will be crowned at 8pm on Channel 4 on February 10.