CHARACTERS from children's books appeared in a scarecrow trail in York at the weekend.

The scarecrow trail, set up by Friends of Rowntree Park, was part of a series of events taking place in and around the park in recent months, and was also timed to coincide with the In Bloom Festival.

The park also hosted temporary sculptures designed by local university students, as the festival celebrated 250 years of the Ancient Society of York Florists.

Abigail Gaines is the membership secretary for Friends of Rowntree Park, and said the event had taken a great deal of planning - with about 40 homes taking part from the park to York Racecourse - but had been a huge success.

She said: "This was the first ever time in this area trying the scarecrow trail, and it was great as we had more than 40 homes in the area get involved. The idea was to get families with children making them together.

"The scarecrows were pretty amazing, especially for peoples' first attempts, and people are already thinking about what they might do for next year. It was a brilliant way to bring the community together and get people involved, centralised and coming back to the park to celebrate the volunteers making it a great place for the public."

The winning scarecrow was announced as Jack & The Beanstalk in St Clement's Grove, pictured, while other entries included The Iron Giant, Willy Wonka, Gangsta Granny, Ginny Weasley, Snail and the Whale, The Mr Men, Matilda, Tiddler, Charlotte's web, Peter Rabbit, the Tiger who came to Tea.

All proceeds from trail guides will be put back into the park, and will fund the work of volunteers in gardening and maintaining the area.

To find out more about supporting the park, future events and how to volunteer, go to rowntreepark.org.uk