The village about to elect a fourth MP in four years

Guilden Sutton is nestled in the Cheshire countryside near the banks of the River Gowy

The tiny village of Guilden Sutton isn't used to finding itself at the forefront of the nation's political news.

Nestled in the Cheshire countryside near the banks of the River Gowy, it is old enough to have been included in a Saxon-era Hundred and features in the Domesday Book - and is every bit the textbook rural village, with a listed church, a picturesque pub and bustling community hall.

But due to a recent series of events beyond its borders, it now finds itself in what the parish council described as a "unique" political position, poised to elect its fourth MP in less than four years.

As one resident put it: "It's all very strange."

The intriguing scenario has been thrown up partly due to two by-elections prompted by resigning MPs, but there is another key factor too.

That's last year's boundary review, which saw the political map of the UK redrawn with the aim of making almost all constituencies a similar size.

Guilden Sutton had previously been in the City of Chester but the rethink placed the village in the new constituency of Runcorn and Helsby.

The quintessential rural village is home to about 1,600 people

However, it's not a move that has gone uncriticised, with some locals left perplexed by their new place on the political map.

One villager said: "As the crow flies, we're only four miles from the Chester Cross, so I think it's stupid."

Another added: "I wasn't very pleased about it, voting for Runcorn when Runcorn's miles away."

Meanwhile, parish council chairwoman Sue Ringstead said other parish councils in the area "haven't had quite this level of inconsistency".

"This has been frustrating in terms of achieving the goals that we need our MPs support with, even though we have had some strong representation from them as individuals," she said.

"Ultimately our residents are frustrated because things are taking longer to deal with than may have been the case with continuous representation."

Villagers worship at St John the Baptist Church

University of Liverpool politics Professor Stuart Wilks-Heeg agreed the situation was "really unusual", particularly in light of the review.

He said boundary changes were "quite infrequent" and that no scenario quite like it had been seen before.

"I am confident that this is the only case this century and I'm pretty confident if I went further back there wouldn't be that many others," he said.

He said there had been areas where there had been several MPs in a short space of time but they were all whole constituencies rather than villages.

"The reasons for this case are definitely unique," he said.

But aside from the general intrigue, could there be significant concerns? With the parish council concerned about the lack of consistency, could this have an impact on local democracy?

'Unique opportunity'

"In principle it can, because obviously we have a particular system of representation rooted in the notion of MPs representing a geographical area," Prof Wilks-Heeg said.

"Obviously the people representing a constituency will change, and that's going to happen in a democracy.

"But for things to change that frequently and to be shifted around between constituencies as well as MPs, I think that is quite disruptive.

"It's certainly not ideal but on the other hand the residents of Guilden Sutton have had this unique opportunity to engage in what are more or less annual elections, so you could argue that's very democratic for them.

"But if any of them are like Brenda from Bristol, then they've probably had enough of it."

Whichever way the future lies for this village steeped in more than 1,000 years of history, the story of Guilden Sutton will continue when its residents go to the polls again in just a couple of weeks' time.

The Runcorn and Helsby by-election takes place on 1 May.