THREE community-owned village shops have fought off stiff competition to win regional awards.

Run by rural residents, the shops are located in Blockley, Gloucestershire; Feckenham, West Midlands; and Berrynarbor, Devon.

They each won a Countryside Alliance Award for being the best village shop and post office in their region.

They will join other finalists at the Houses of Parliament on 3 February where the national award winners will be announced.

Each of the three community-owned shops is supported by the Village CORE Programme, run by the Plunkett Foundation.

There are more than 230 similar community-owned rural shops in the UK, 38 of which opened in 2009.

The shops come in different shapes and sizes, reflecting the varying needs of their rural communities.

Some are based in purpose-built premises whilst other are based in previous shops, village halls, portacabins, churches and pubs.

The Plunkett Foundation supports rural communities wanting to set up and run a community-owned rural shop.

It provides practical assistance through a network of community retail advisers, its website, various publications and a national office.

The Village CORE programme provides financial start-up packages and advisory support to communities.

So far, it has supported 48 community-owned rural shops since the programme started four years ago.

The success of the three award-winning shops showed what could be achieved given the right support, said a Plunkett spokeswoman.

The winning community-owned shops have also been supported by Making Local Food Work.

The initiative aims to help shops create better links with local producers and enable them to stock and sell more local food.

It is a five year programme supported by £10m from the Big Lottery Fund.

The Village Core programme is run in partnership with the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Co-operative and Community Finance.