IT’S the culmination of five years of hard work and bucks the national trend of rural decline.

As with so many village shops and Post Offices, Witchampton saw the sad loss of a vital village service when its store closed its doors in 2004.

But villagers refused to let that be the end of the story and, five years down the line, have opened the Witchampton Shop at the Witchampton Club.

Thanks to donations to the tune of £100,000 from villagers, club owner the Crichel Estate, East Dorset District Council and others, the store is now in business and was opened on Saturday by the new High Sheriff of Dorset, Victoria Mary McDonaugh, her first duty in the role.

The organisation behind the project is the Vale of Allen Rural Association.

Secretary David DeMattos said: “In all probability it’s the first time that a rural store has opened in Dorset for about 40 years, because they’ve all been closing.

“We’ve been working on this steadily since 2004, so it’s the end of a five-year project.

“It’s of enormous village interest and we’re aiming to serve not only Witchampton but all the surrounding areas. It’s covering a wide area of 20 or 30 square miles where there’s no shops or Post Offices and haven’t been for years.”

Plans to refurbish the 260sqft-club house and housing a store there came about after a failed lottery bid.

Donations totalling £20,000 also came from the Plunkett Foundation, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and the Co-Operative Loan Fund. The donations were used to fund the initial stocks and fitting out costs.

The shop is open 8am-6pm weekdays and 8am to 11am at weekends.