DOZENS of volunteer shop workers are celebrating after their village store was unveiled as the best in the county.

Ascott-under-Wychwood Community Village Shop has been named Oxfordshire Village Shop of the Year.

And it has sparked a double celebration for the 40 volunteers who run the operation as it is the second award it has picked up in a week.

Last week, the shop announced it had been voted Best Rural Retailer for the South region in the Countryside Alliance's annual competition.

Alan Chubb, chairman of the shop's management committee, said: "This is a tribute to all those involved in the shop and to our loyal customers.

"Ascott-under-Wychwood is just a super community and everyone puts their heart and soul into it."

The new award, which has earned the shop a £250 prize, is from the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, an organisation that aims to promote thriving and sustainable rural communities.

The business opened in 2003 after the Ascott-under-Wychwood Village Shop Association raised £130,000 to replace the store which had closed several years previously.

Recently it has featured in the TV programmes Countryfile and Heart of the Country as a shining example of a community organisation sourcing and buying its products locally.

Produce includes meat and other produce from the Foxbury Farm Shop at Brize Norton and Callow's Farm at Stonesfield, while bread is provided by Huffkins in Burford.

A total of 21 out of the shop's 30 suppliers are within a 30-mile radius.

And during the July floods, which badly affected the village with a population of 450, the shop donated emergency packs to the needy, supported customers with essential provisions and acted as a nerve centre for information.

Jane Barker, village shop development worker with the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, said: "The shop has a good range of local food, wide choice of wine and lots of extras which make it a great place to shop.

"It is run with energy and passion by the volunteers who really believe in what they are doing and have a vision of what the shop needs to be for the local community."