THE new Exmoor Flag embarked on a grand tour of the region in a vintage bus following its unveiling at a ceremony at the West Somerset Railway in Minehead.

The bus visited Porlock, Lynton, Exford, Dulverton and Dunster to present flags to councillors and members of the parish.

Johnny Kingdom, the wildlife photographer, was among those distributing the flags.

The team encountered some minor setbacks, including thick fog slowing the journey down and the old Leyland Tiger bus was unable to make it through the narrow lanes to Parracombe.

“The bus looked fantastic!” said Ceri Keene, one of the co-ordinators of the Exmoor Flag campaign.

“But unfortunately we decided to carry on without the bus, as we wanted to meet all the people we had promised to meet, without making them wait any longer than we had to!

“But the day overall was a great success and it was really good fun!”

The new flag was designed by Jenny Stevens, winner of a competition held to mark the 60th anniversary of Exmoor National Park.

Jenny, whose design received an impressive 41% of the public vote, said: “The flag tells a story of Exmoor’s varied terrain – sea meets moorland meets forest meets wildlife.”

Johnny Kingdom presented Jenny with the very first Exmoor Flag at the unveiling ceremony last week (October 29), handmade in Exford by Robin Ashburner, ex-President of the Flag Institute.

The competition attracted more than 260 entries from all over the world and was judged by panellists, who narrowed it down to five designs for the public vote.

The four other finalists received a version of their own flag designs made by James Guscott of Active Signs is recognition of their achievement.

The flag has been registered with The Flag Institute as an official United Kingdom flag and marks Exmoor as the first area encompassing a national park to have its very own flag.