This photo was taken in the Lake District, on the B5289, just outside Keswick. Maybe you live quite near there? Ive heard there is a very nasty set of badgers going around defacing road signs and postboxes in that area, they have a special Crimestoppers number to ring if you see any suspicious badger activity.
I remember seeing one of those signs quite near where I live. Sadly, badgers defaced it and it lives no more.
They probably replaced it with a generic animals sign or the like.