Lord of the Rings and Titanic actor Bernard Hill could be seen wandering the streets of Halesworth today as he judged the town's annual scarecrow festival.

Ranging from traditional straw scarecrows to television characters and pumpkin people, the festival saw more than 50 business owners putting their imaginations to the test.

And this year's winner - The Little Gallery in Market Place - certainly did that with its creation of a living scarecrow.

Dreamt up by gallery owner Mary Gundry, the creation involved her partner Colin Huggins dressing up as a 'scary-old-crone' leaning up against a stick in a scarecrow-like fashion.

Mr Huggins said: 'The worst part was putting on the make-up and taking it off again. It has made me sympathise with what women go through!

'But I think it is great that it is still going strong after five years and everyone puts so much effort in.

'It's a good way of raising money for the Christmas lights and bringing people into the town.'

Mr Huggins, who stood outside the shop all day Saturday and for several hours today, said winning the trophy was completely unexpected.

The scarecrows were judged by Mr Hill and Tamsyn Imison, who is responsible for coordinating the town's Anglia in Bloom entry. Together they came up with a tick-list of four qualities they were looking for in the perfect scarecrow - imagination, fun, effort and appeal to all ages.

Mr Hill said: 'It was really difficult to eliminate people from the competition. There were so many good ones.

'But we picked Colin's because it matched all four of our criteria.'

The scarecrow festival launched on Saturday and includes a treasure hunt for families to take part in to find 48 letters hidden in shop windows in the town. The winner of the hunt gets the chance to turn on Halesworth's Christmas lights as well as a £50 cash prize.

Festival organiser Karen Prime, who runs Edwards Restaurant in Halesworth, said: 'The amount of people the scarecrows and the treasure hunt has brought into the town is unbelievable.

'I am over the moon with how it is going. It has really achieved what we wanted which was to make a fun event for the children and also to bring extra footfall into the town.'

The scarecrows will be on display until Saturday and treasure hunt entry forms are available from Edwards Restaurant or the library for £1.

The judges also named scarecrows from Densons Jewellers and Libby Mae's as joint second and Ann Green Secondhand Bookshop as third, with highly commended prizes going to Abbotts, Edwards Restaurant and Market Place Wine Shop and a special effort prize to The Angel Hotel and The White Hart.