ANGRY protesters blocked motorists from parking on a field at Croyde owned by the National Trust.

Feelings were running high in the village on Monday when the Trust opened Lime Kiln Field to cars.

The National Trust said it wanted to take pictures of cars on the field to judge the impact on the area.

It is considering whether to try moving its permanent car park from Baggy Point to the Lime Kiln Field.

Planning rules mean the field can be used as a car park for up to 28 days a year.

The Trust's North Devon property manager Steve Mulberry said they were doing a temporary information gathering exercise.

But a protester who blocked the field entrance on Monday said it was the thin end of the wedge.

Lime Kiln Field is on the coast between Ruda and Baggy Point.

There is an existing car park directly across the road — and the National Trust's Baggy Point car park is 400 yards down the road.

Villagers say Lime Kiln Field was left to the National Trust by Edina Hyde, with explicit instructions that it should not be built upon.

Protester Bernard Maskell, who directed motorists away from the field on Monday, said: "This is the last view of the sea as you come out of the village. Did Miss Hyde really leave it to the Trust so that this beautiful vista could be ruined by cars?

"There are three car parks in the immediate vicinity and one huge one at the other side of the village.

"There is no need for this, other than that the Trust are trying to cash in and make money. They are supposed to be preserving our coastal heritage, not ruining it."

Mr Mulberry said the plan had been to open for two weeks to take photographs of cars.

He said it was part of a joint project with the Croyde Surf Life Saving Club.

If the scheme went ahead a clubhouse would be built on Lime Kiln Field and the car park moved there too. The Baggy Point car park would close.

Parish council chairman John Simmons said: "It's a cynical move. They build a clubhouse on the field but only in return for the permanent car park."

Mr Maskell vowed to return every day to block the car park if necessary.

He led protests five years ago, when the Trust applied for permission to turn the same field into a permanent car park.

North Devon Council turned down that application, saying it would adversely affect the landscape.

Mr Mulberry said: "We are only looking at the possibilities at the moment.

"There is clearly fierce local objection and we are not in the business of causing a huge controversy so we won't return there now we have taken some photographs.

"Nothing has been decided and it will go to public consultation if an application is proposed."