A plague of flies has hit every house in Crowmarsh, near Wallingford - but where they are coming from is a complete mystery.

Kelly Belcher, 27, with some of the flies in her Crowmarsh home

In a scene straight out of a horror movie, residents say their homes are swarmed by over 200 flies every day.

Now the villagers have joined forces to see off the swarm by forming action group CAFCA -- Crowmarsh Against Flies Campaign -- and are demanding action from South Oxfordshire District Council's environmental health department.

They have bombarded the department with phone calls, emails and letters and are angry that no solution has been found.

Jas Lally, head of environmental health and colleague Craig Miller, went to a packed public meeting at The Bell pub in the village on Monday.

But although 100 protesters turned up, the council officers could offer them no hope of a quick end to their misery.

They have appealed for people to come up with evidence of where the flies are coming from so they can take appropriate action.

Peter Arguile, head of the campaign group, said: "I don't hold out much hope for a quick fix on this but we are certainly going to keep pressing for a real end to the problem."

He said: "There was a lot of anger at the meeting and frustration that the fly problem keeps recurring.

"There is a huge cost in terms of business interruption, purchase of pest control products -- I have had my house fumigated to try to get rid of the flies -- the potential drop in property prices, and there are serious health and hygiene implications."

Resident Kelly Belcher, from Park View, said her council house was infested.

She said there were always about 200 flies around. Sprays and fly papers had been tried but they could not cope.

She said her children, who suffer from asthma, now refused to eat in the house because of the infestation.

Mrs Belcher said: "I even had fly papers in my bedroom and they are full of these little horrors.

"I won't cook in the house.

"It is truly dreadful and there are bad smells as well."

Denise Hall, from Robert Sparrow Gardens, said: "These flies are absolutely revolting -- they are there while you prepare food, they are there when it is on the table and they are there while you are eating.

"It is appalling. There are even flies all over the washing.

"You cannot entertain indoors -- nor even in the garden.

"It is a real plague -- we have fly problems every year but this year has been especially bad."

Many people felt that farmers were responsible for not ploughing in manure quickly enough.

Mr Lally said all local farmers had been written to.

Local farmer Alison Edwards, of Lonesome Farm, said they operated within guidelines on storage and spreading their pig waste, and on the disposal of carcases.

Residents have agreed to keep a log of the problem and come up with solid evidence.

Their findings will be passed to the environmental health department for action.