Litter left by river swimmers at West Lydford on increase
Residents of a Somerset village say there is an increase in rubbish left by people visiting to swim in its river.
They say that more people have visited West Lydford recently because listings on wild swimming websites recommend the river and its weir as popular places to swim.
Local people want the websites to remind swimmers to take their rubbish away with them when they leave.
Villager Doug Craig said: "The people that come don't respect the village."
He said the residents welcome people to the village to swim, but said they can leave an "awful lot of litter and a lot of mess when they've gone".
Daniel Start, who runs the Wild Swimming website on which West Lydford is listed, said: "We'll try and encourage our readers to take away litter.
"But I think it's mainly local kids who are going there and leaving the litter, and I think the families of those kids need to take the main responsibility to encourage them to be responsible in their own area and neighbouring villages."