A small part of Oxfordshire is making the sausage world its own, with a clutch of gold banger awards.

Three butchers, based within a few miles of each other in west Oxfordshire, came away with top prizes for their tasty sizzlers this week.

Top of them all was Patrick Strainge, a Bampton butcher, who scooped the Sausage Supreme Champion trophy at The Two Counties Sausage and Pie Challenge held at Streatley, on the border of Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

His pork and caramelised onion sausages now put him in contention for the national champion of champions show next year.

Also impressive was John Williams, a village butcher, who only opened his shop 10 months ago and won gold awards with his pork and game sausages and his chilli and garlic sausages.

They are part of a range of seven varieties he makes at his shop in Brize Norton Road, Minster Lovell, with ingredients all sourced no further than Gloucestershire.

He said: "It's the first competition I've entered on my own and it gives me a big boost to come up with more fresh ideas."

Mr Williams believes he has struck a blow for local small businesses with his two awards.

He added: "It's tough for village shops these days, so many are closing down.

"But if you keep working hard, you can make a go of it. I've been a butcher for 30 years, but opening up my own shop is a real challenge. I want to make my mark."

He opened his shop, Williams Butchers, with his wife Karen, just two months after Laurence Hickman shut the family butchers in November last year.

The area has lost many of its local independent butchers because of supermarket shopping trends.

In Witney, with a population of about 22,000, there are just two independent butchers left.

Mr Strainge used to run a shop in the town's Corn Street, before moving to Bampton more than 20 years ago.

He said: "At one time there used to be seven or eight in the town.

"It's hard work and you have to give priority to quality of meat and presentation these days."

Also in the awards was Colin Dawes, of Foxbury Farm, Brize Norton, who picked up five gold awards, three for pies and two for sausages, to add to his growing collection of farm shop awards.

Mr Williams used to be his master butcher, before he left to go solo.

Mr Dawes said: "I've lost count of the awards, but you could say there's now a fair bit of rivalry - particularly with John.

"Sausage competitions have been traditional in the North of the country, but they've only recently taken on down South."