Porlock left £700,000 for village recreation ground Published duration 18 March 2017

image copyright Google image caption Residents of the Somerset village are now being asked to come up with ideas on how to spend the bequest

People living in a village on Exmoor have been left an "amazingly generous" £700,000 by a former resident.

Susan Taylor, of Hawkcombe, died in her late 90s in December and left her money to the recreation ground in Porlock.

Residents of the Somerset village are now being asked to come up with ideas on how to spend the bequest.

Mike Lynch, from the recreation ground, said: "It is an amazing amount of money and we wanted to see what the main view was from the community."

The Porlock Recreation Ground currently offers a "well equipped" children's playground, two football pitches, a cricket pitch, a floodlit tennis court and multisport court as well as a large pavilion.

In her will Mrs Taylor said she wanted the funds "to be spent for the benefit of Porlock's residents and visitors who use the recreation grounds".

She had lived in the village for many years and her family is said to "fully support" her wishes.

Mr Lynch, chairman of the Porlock Recreation Ground management committee, said he found out about the legacy in January but had to "keep it under wraps" until probate was granted.

"The first thing we did was send out a letter to the people in the village and the surrounding villages asking for their ideas," he said.

"We've had around 80 responses - a swimming pool is probably the most mentioned."

He added it would be "several months" before a final decision is made.

"As you can appreciate it's not something we've done before so it's not easy to know how long it will take," he said.

Related Topics Porlock