AMID all the doom and gloom of closing village shops, pubs and above all post offices, along comes a gleam of light: Berry Hill has a post office again!

Now Eamonn Evans at the village convenience store a liltle way up the street from the former PO has opened a post office counter with all the bells and whistles.

"We want to get the word around that we're up and running again and people no longer have to go into Coleford," said Mr Evans.

"We've all been training hard and Royal Mail has given us leaflets to send around the area but not everyone knows we are here.

"Now we'd like everyone to come in and try the service out – the more the merrier! It'll also be good for us to test how well we've learned our lessons!"

He said it was "quite good" Berry Hill had managed to reverse the trend when everything seemed to be going the other way. However, there was a testing time ahead and the PO counter had to prove its worth.

"We're on a 12-month trial. It's a question of using it or losing it."

The former post office closed about a year ago after the owners of the business retired.