A DORSET butcher’s year is sure to go out with a bang after its innovative sausages reached acclaim.

The best sausages in the South West were crowned in British Sausage Week’s week celebration of the Great British Banger.

And a spicy Jamaican Jerk sausage from a Dorset butcher was shortlisted as one of the most innovative in the region.

British Sausage Week, now in its 17th year, aims to raise awareness of the great variety, quality and all round tastiness of British sausages.

Organisers say this year has been a bumper year for entries with more than 200 butchers entering almost 500 sausages in to the competition.

There are almost 470 varieties of sausage in the UK today.

Awards were presented by former England rugby captain and Celebrity Masterchef 2011 winner Phil Vickery in a sizzling ceremony in Bristol.

The Jamaican Jerk sausage from Blackmore Vale Butchery in West Stour is ‘a fiery sausage full of the true jerk ingredients and unlike any other jerk sausage on the market today. They will certainly leave a spark in your mouth and make you come back for more’.