Rolling countryside, blazing summer sunsets and mist across the hills have been captured on camera in a competition to find the most stunning landscapes.

More than 100 professional and amateur photographers have spent the last three months capturing picturesque images of local scenery.

There were four categories in the Leicestershire Landscapes Matter competition – valleys and vales, farmlands, wolds and woods and forest.

Winner of the farmlands category was Daniel Squance, from Oadby, captured the quiet village of Noseley, near Market Harborough, on her camera last summer.

The environmental science student used a Nikon D300 to take the photo.

Daniel, 23, said: "I've been a keen photographer for about three or four years and landscapes are sort of my thing.

"I take other types of shots but I enjoy landscapes the most.

"I'm surprised with how it came out, I'm not a professional or anything, so I was really pleased when I managed to get that shot."

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Sheelagh Mason, 52, from Rushey Mead, was runner-up in the farmland category with her landscape photo of the village of Tugby.

She said: "I'm a keen walker and I've always got my camera with me.

"I tried to compose it like a landscape painting and it seems to have worked."

The competition was organised by Leicestershire County Council, Leicester Shire Promotions, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the East Midlands Landscape Partnership.

A panel of seven judges picked their favourites yesterday.

Chris Gordon, Leicester Mercury photographer and competition judge, said: "From a professional point of view I was looking for things like perspective, colour, composition and the use of technical skill.

"I was very impressed with the entries, and the shot of Bradgate Park, with Old John in the background, was one of the stand-out shots."

Judge Simon Gribbon, from Leicester Shire Promotions, said: "I looked at which photos would best depict Leicestershire to a visitor who didn't know anything about it."

The winners received free stays at one of three rural hotels in Leicestershire.

Graham Stocks, vice chair of the Leicestershire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "The standard of the entries was excellent and took a long time to whittle them down to the winners."