THE battle to be named Yorkshire Village of the Year is hotting up, with the list of 65 entrants narrowed down to 22.

Judges of the competition, which has replaced the Best Kept Village contest which ran for 40 years, have declared themselves highly impressed with the standard of entries.

The winners of the North Yorkshire (East) and North Yorkshire (West) classes will join a village from South and West Yorkshire to become regional representatives in the national competition which will be contested by 44 villages from England, Scotland and Wales.

Doreen Berriman, spokeswoman for the Rural Community Council, said: "All entrants were visited by a development officer, followed by an assessment day in which the judges took part.

"All the applications and supporting material was of a very high standard and the judges found great difficulty in drawing up their short list. "

The villages going through to the final round in the North Yorkshire (East) category are Nether Poppleton, Sheriff Hutton, Terrington, Foxholes, Cawood, Snainton, Hinderwell, Barlby and Osgodby.

In the North Yorkshire (West) category they are Spofforth, Alne, Burton Leonard, East Cowton, Snape with Thorpe, Swainby, Bellerby and East Harlsey.