A Norfolk village has been pipped at the post for the national title of a prestigious competition. The residents of Denton, near Bungay, had been on tenterhooks as they waited to find out if they had clinched the title of Calor Village of the Year for England 2009.

A Norfolk village has been pipped at the post for the national title of a prestigious competition.

The residents of Denton, near Bungay, had been on tenterhooks as they waited to find out if they had clinched the title of Calor Village of the Year for England 2009.

But their hopes were dashed as competition organisers revealed that the Cumbrian community of Kirkby Stephen had won the top spot.

Having been revealed in April as a regional winner, Denton, which has a population of just 350, faced stiff competition for the national title from the eventual winners along with Silchester in Hampshire, Kingston in Devon and Hathersage in Derbyshire.

Denton represented Norfolk in the East of England round after taking victory in the EDP Pride in Norfolk Community Awards in the under 500 population category.

Calor Village of the Year manager Holly Sims said that Denton had put up a good fight and an excellent show for the judging team.

She praised the community, saying: 'Denton is an energetic, thriving and enthusiastic village community and is a deserved winner of the regional title. As well as getting a great deal out of taking part, we know that communities put so much into the competition - if we could name them all our Calor Village of the Year for England, we would.

'Once again this competition has discovered some outstanding examples of rural village communities that are carrying out fantastic projects and achieving some final great results, often in the face of adversity. We never fail to be impressed by the standard of the villages that take part.'

Denton parish councillor Peter Hill, who suggested entering the competition, said the village should be proud of its achievements.

He said: 'I am not that disappointed because we have done a lot better than I ever anticipated and thought possible. There can only be one winner.

'People have worked very hard and it is a fantastic community. To have come second or anything like that out of potentially many thousands is a great achievement. It would have been nice to have won it, but it was not to be.'

He said that Denton was special because of its community spirit and added that losing a village pub does not inevitably spell the demise of a rural community.

'There were two pubs in the village, the last closed in 1984,' he said. 'In many places people say that is the death of the place when the pub closes, but actually that has benefitted Denton because a bar was established in the village hall which is centrally situated and attracts people into the hall.'

In addition to winning the regional title, Denton has been awarded two regional category awards, winning a total prize fund of �3,000 to invest back into community projects.