FAIRY tale runners made Dartmouth the happy ending at a magical fundraising event on Saturday.

Some 350 fancy dress runners ate and drank their way along a 15-mile route from Dartington, ending in the Dartmouth Old Market, where there was entertainment and treats, including a giant chocolate Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall of cake.

The Delicious Dart Trail – now in its third year – was a combination of food festival and fun run boasting a dozen stops featuring local food and drink from 30 businesses along the way.

This year the runners tucked into goodies ranging from a glass of Neap­tide beer to a rhubarb macaroon or a venison pie to a plum liqueur.

Runners got togged up for a fairy tale themed run and included one group of Nordic Walkers who turned up as Snow White with about a dozen dwarves. There was also an Aladdin, complete with magic carpet, a whole range of Alice in Wonder­land characters including a few Queen of Hearts and a White Rabbit, Little Bo Peep with a whole flock of sheep and Three Blind Mice who had no trouble in finding their way from one food and drink stop to another.

The fastest clocked up the route, that started at The Shops in Dartington and followed the River Dart to Dartmouth taking in Totnes, Ashprington, Tuckenhay Dittisham and Kingswear, in around two and a half hours.

Others took it at a much more leisurely pace and arrived in Dartmouth in around seven hours.

'I think they took it easy and made the most of it and perhaps stopped off longer than others to enjoy the food and the scenery,' said event organiser Kate Treleaven.

A giant Humpty Dumpty egg made by Saveurs, which was raffled, raised £350 while the event itself is expected to bring in more than £5,000 – all of which will be going to Chicks, the Devon-based charity providing countryside breaks for inner-city children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Kate said: 'There was an extraordinary array of fancy dress. The lengths people went to was fantastic and it all added to the terrific carnival atmosphere. The feedback that we got was that the quality of the food and drink on the way around was better than ever.'