THE MYSTERY of a ‘decaying flesh’ smell which has been hanging over Exminster for days may have been solved.

Environmental health officers were called in to investigate following complaints of the terrible stench which was said to be ‘unbearable’ throughout the village.

Now local farmer Jerry Sanders-Carr has come forward to say it may be a result of spreading organic matter onto his land.

He apologised to residents saying: ‘Due to the wind direction I fear it is coming from the farm where we are currently spreading organic manures and compost.

‘The smell will dissipate once the spreading process is complete and we will also be incorporating this manures into the soil in coming days.

‘These materials are great feed for the soil biome encouraging the bacterial and fungal activity and help capture CO2 from the atmosphere.

‘Please rest assured there are no dead animals involved, the smell is due to the manures being organic and having been passed through a digester.

‘The compost is from green waste collected by the council the Exeter area.

‘The organic manure is from South West Water after being processed in a digester to produce energy.

‘Prior to application all my fields are tested for nutrients and if not suitable to spread, I can’t spread either product.

‘Prior to spreading the local Environmental Health Officer is informed and Environment Agency.

‘So the required licenses are in place before work takes place.’

The smell was evident as far as Matford, Marsh Barton and Countess Wear.

Local county councillor Alan Connett reported the issue to Teignbridge Council which confirmed its environmental health team was looking into the cause.

One resident described the ‘horrible’ smell permeating through Berrybrook Meadow.

The smell has been evident across most of the village. Including Days Pottles Lane and Glebelands.

Some report the smell as if ‘something is rotting’ and some residents had been forced to keep their windows closed as it is so strong.

One said: ‘It was absolutely horrific stepping outside the front door today.’

Many have described the smell as like rotting flesh and have suggested it is a ‘specific and distinctive’ smell which is not like the digestive and compost described.

One said: ‘It smells very distinctly and specifically like dead body rotting, it’s not your usual manure countryside smell.’

Another said: ‘It’s not a typical "countryside" smell, it very distinctly smells like decomposing corpse.’

Others commented that Exminster gets ‘field spread’ every year but it didn’t cause this much disturbance and wasn’t a ‘typical’ country smell.

Mr Sanders-Carr said there would be further applications of the same material later in the year, most likely in the autumn.

He said: ‘The product has been used for many years on farms, it was unfortunate that today the wind direction did not help.

‘I have just finished incorporating most of the product into the ground and the smell will be mostly dissipated by now.’