A VILLAGE was besieged by a convoy of travellers who pitched up their caravans on their community field.

A stream of mobile homes drove into The Green in Steventon on Friday morning, where they settled down for the weekend despite residents' demands for them to leave.

Steventon resident Scott Humphries, who snapped the line of caravaners on his phone, said they left "human wastage" in nearby trees but credited them for putting their rubbish in the bin.

Robert Green, vice chairman of Steventon Parish Council, said former council leader Dick Bosley asked the travellers to move on.

He said: "A few caravans arrived and were pitching up on the little green where the fair goes every year. Dick lives nearby and told them they couldn't go there. They then moved to the big green where I am told up to 20 more of their colleagues came.

"The overall impression was that they were from France – some had a Belgian registration plate. They knew they couldn't be moved without a court order, which we wouldn't have been able to get until yesterday."

He said they left in an "orderly fashion" on Sunday afternoon, adding: "Apart from some rubbish that was neatly piled up, you wouldn't have known they had been".