Villagers delighted as seven-day blackout ends

Roland Underdown said villagers were relieved to no longer be firing up camping stoves to make beans on toast

Residents of a tiny hamlet left without power for seven days after Storm Éowyn said they were "delighted" to have electricity restored.

Kershopefoot, between Cumbria and Scotland, had been in blackout since Friday morning when high winds saw trees on the edge of the village cut power lines.

Resident Roland Underdown said engineers had "worked hard" and villagers were "overjoyed" to no longer be firing up camping stoves to eat beans on toast.

Scottish Power Energy Networks apologised to residents of the 29-property hamlet for the delay and said engineers had worked "tirelessly" to restore power.

The power company had said electricity would be restored by Wednesday, but it did not return until 17:00 GMT on Thursday.

Mr Underdown said: "The village is very happy, we had a flurry of engineers everywhere and I have to say they worked really hard.

"They managed to fire a generator up so we got on the temporary power supply just before lunch time, although we had a bit of a wobble when it ran out of diesel.

"We are now reconnected to the main grid and we felt deep joy."

'Lot of takeaways'

The power company said it had sent a food van on Thursday so villagers could have a hot meal and its engineers had worked "tirelessly" to repair extensive damage to power lines.

Mr Underwood said his wood burner had been a "lifeline" but that some villagers only had electric storage heaters.

He said: "There's been a lot of takeaways and beans and toast eaten and people have been using camping stoves and that gets a bit boring after a while.

"Getting up early, stumbling over the dog, trying to find a candle and then firing up a camping stove for a hot drink is not something I want to repeat every day."