Locals in and around the village of Oake are looking with pride at their old fingerpost signs, after all have been professionally refurbished following a drive from the parish council.

Posts on Facebook show the 12 iconic old signposts looking immaculate around Oake and neighbouring Hillcommon, Hillfarrance and Heathfield.

“Villagers are very happy and we are very pleased, we have had a lot of good feedback,” said Sue Davies, chair of Oake Parish Council.

“It is money well spent. Some were in a terrible state but look lovely now. It shows pride in your neighbourhood.”

It all began after Somerset Council said they could not afford to refurbish the fingerposts anymore, and parish councils would need to take on the task.

“Nothing happened initially, but after a while the subject came up after we saw they were looking really tatty. We did a survey and took photos, and decided we would try to refurbish them,” said Sue.

At a cost of between £800 to £1,500 to get each one professionally repaired and refurbished, depending on their size and how many arms the signs had, it took three years to complete the task.

The council had received a percentage of money from a community infrastructure levy, paid after some barn conversions in the area were done, and they decided to spend it on the cast iron signs.

The work has sparked interest from other villages, and the parish council has had visits including from Cornwall.

Somerset Forge, based in Easton near Wells, which undertook the refurbishment, said their work on fingerposts was substantially increasing.

They only cast new posts if the old ones cannot be repaired, and the work involves removing them, shot blasting, repairing or replacing, then painting. They work with South West Heritage to ensure the styles are correct.