Results of the 2026 Haddenham Scarecrow Festival
The annual Scarecrow Festival, organised by Haddenham Association of Scouts and Guides, has become a much-loved summer tradition over the last 11 years. Residents, community groups and local businesses collectively created a fantastic display of creativity, many of them based on this year’s theme “Colours of the Rainbow”.
In the end, there were 98 entries spread throughout the village including on all the new housing developments. After a rainy start, the middle week was ideal weather for Scarecrow hunting before the heatwave! Thankfully the last weekend was cooler and it was so lovely to see lots of people walking and cycling around Haddenham, map in hand, enjoying the scarecrows.
We are very grateful for all donations made so far in support of this year’s chosen charity Forever Colours Children’s Hospice. https://forevercolourshospice.org.uk/ We will continue to welcome donations until 17th July and will arrange a presentation with the charity after that. If you have not yet had an opportunity to do so, donations can be made online at:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/scarecrowfestival2026
Although not organised as a competition, people are invited to vote for their three favourites. We received an awesome total of 561 votes which have been carefully counted and verified. The three most popular scarecrows each receive Afternoon Tea for Two vouchers generously donated by Haddenham Garden Centre, a bottle of wine kindly donated by Penny at Harpers Estate Agents and a box of chocolates from the Scout & Guide Association. Here are the results:
1st Favourite – Peter Rabbit Rainbow Patch by CHUF Haddenham
Sarah from CHUF explained that the inspiration for their Peter Rabbit Scarecrow came from CHUF's allotment, which was generously provided free of charge by the Parish Council. Sarah said: “The children love planting seeds and learning how to look after the plants as they grow. So far they have harvested and enjoyed eating strawberries, lettuce and radishes. Walking to the allotment and spending time there is so good for the children’s wellbeing, including some with Special Educational Needs”
CHUF recently achieved an excellent OFSTED assessment, with a “Strong Standard” result. The inspector specifically praised the allotment, stating: "The newly acquired allotment further enriches children's understanding of the natural world through valuable hands-on learning experiences." CHUF has spaces available for 2-4 year olds and would love to hear from anyone who is interested in starting there in September.
2nd Favourite – Paint the Rainbow by the Powell family
Gemma’s daughter Sophia came up with the idea for the Powell family’s Scarecrow because she loves art – in fact Sophia painted the framed Rainbow picture which was at the centre of their display. Her brother Reuben helped his Mum make the Scarecrow artist. Gemma said “We enjoy taking part in the Scarecrow Festival because it encourages great community spirit and we love looking around the village at all the other entries".
3rd Favourite – Bluey, Mum and the double Rainbow by Stephanie Moore
Stephanie said: “Every year I make a scarecrow that is the choice of one of our grandchildren. This year was Ned’s turn and his favourite character is Bluey. Bluey is an Australian dog and there are books and TV programmes about her and her family. Bluey teaches that kindness, imagination, resilience, empathy, and family connection are important. With this year’s chosen charity being Forever Colours Children’s Hospice, our double rainbow seemed more than appropriate although it was very hard to make and even harder to keep it standing through all the wind and rain at the beginning. Thank you once again for everyone who took the time to visit Bluey and vote”.
Including the three above, the Top 20 Favourites were as follows:
4th – No 11 Toy Story Wedding
5th – No 33 United in Love
6th – No 8 Inside Out
7th – No 34 Splashes of Pain
8th (jt) – No 63 It’s love that makes a family (Flowerpot family) and No 73 UP – Carl Fredricksen
9th – No 13 We found Nemo!
10th (jt) – No 25 Wendy Wheelbarrow and No 37 Rainbow Girl
11th – No 17 Flower Family
12th – No 41 Dorothy – Somewhere over the Rainbow
13th – No 51 Oi Frog!
14th (jt) – No 54 The Rainbow Bubble Fish and No 62 Little Miss Rainbow and No 67 Minions FC
15th – No 31 Richard of York
16th (jt) – No 36 The Hungry Caterpillar and No 74 Roxy Rainbow’s Wheel of Fortune
17th (jt) – No 50 Matilda’s Colourful World and No 83 Hue Grant
18th – (jt) – No 22 Uncle Dicky and No 28 A splash of Guiding Magic and No 32 Drippy Longstocking’s Splash of Colour and No 40 Florence goes Gardening and No 76 Rainbow Rags and No 80 In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit
19th (jt) – No 10 The Rainbow Express and No 44 Olaf’s Summer Adventures and No 53 The Rainbow Garden and No 95 Rainbow Rosie and her “sweet” garden
20th (jt) – No 1 Rainbow Cubs and No 21 Somewhere over the Rainbow Skies are Bluey and No 35 Joseph & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and No 56 Mr Jolly and No 78 The Rainbow Riders and No 81 Mia Brownie Rainbow Fish.
Other entries receiving multiple votes included Numbers 5, 6, 12, 14, 16, 20, 24, 26, 30, 52, 55, 57, 59, 68, 70, 71, 75, 77 and 82. Of course it’s not all about votes. Every single entry is valued, created with care, humour, community spirit and brings so much joy to our village for three weeks. THANK YOU to everyone for taking part. All entrants will receive a personalised Certificate of Participation over the next couple of weeks.
You can re-visit all this year's Scarecrows by clicking on the Haddenham Flickr page, where there is a complete portfolio of photographs.
Here are some of the comments made:
Thank you very much for organising the Scarecrow Festival again this year – it is a lovely village activity and very much appreciated.
All brilliant as always. So fun! Well done Haddenham!
We’ve had so much fun going out walking around the village
Thank you for organising this year’s event. There are some very creative entries
……a super festival once again!
We have really enjoyed looking at them all as well as taking part, and it has been hard to decide who to vote for.
Such a wonderful festival of scarecrows.
…..so much attention to detail…… really brilliantly thought out.
Well done to all the villagers who put such effort into making the Scarecrow Festival an enjoyable event, whilst raising money for charity. Thank you.
This is always very cool!
Such a lovely array of scarecrows this year!
Haddenham Scarecrow Festival was set up by the Haddenham Association of Scouts and Guides in 2016 partly as a fundraising community event, but also to raise the profile of Scouting and Guiding in the village. We are delighted that all the children’s units are busy and running successfully with waiting lists. New adult volunteers are always welcome, please get in touch if you can help. On behalf of the Haddenham Association of Scouts and Guides, I would like to say a special thank you to:
Everyone who donated to our causes. We will continue to welcome donations for two more weeks and will announce total funds raised mid-July.
Michael Ball for creating an updated Map to include Haddenham’s new roads and for his technical expertise and support.
Harpers Estate Agents for sponsoring the printing cost of Maps
Penny at Harpers Estate Agents and Kate at Haddenham Garden Centre for donating prizes and selling Maps. Also, thanks to the following for selling Maps: Blooming Fruity, Helen Lewis, Haddenham Library, Haddenham Parish Council and The Cottage Bakery
Keith at Haddenham.net for his help with promotion, putting the Map and list online and assembling the Gallery of photos.
Members of the Association for practical support and manning fundraising stalls at the Village Maypole and Haddenham Garden Centre.
I can’t wait to see what next year’s Scarecrow Festival will bring!
Francesca Flaxton
Brownie Guider and Member of Haddenham Association of Scouts and Guides
4th July 2026
