Locally-brewed beer was poured over roofing tiles at a topping-out ceremony during the construction of 40 new energy-efficient family homes.

The homes in Bawdeswell include features such as solar panels, under-floor heating, triple glazing and high levels of insulation.

Paul LeGrice, managing director of develooper Watton-based Abel Homes, said: "I am delighted to be topping out the first new home on this fantastic site just five months after we started work here.

"Bawdeswell is a lovely village which can trace its history back to the Domesday Book and beyond, and we are pleased to be building new family homes to enable the village to remain vibrant into the future."

The first homes at the new estate, to be called Bluebell Rise, will go on sale early in November, just seven months after the first sod was cut at the site.

The estate is just behind the garden centre in the centre of the village, north-west of Norwich.