The Preston Park Rockery has been shortlisted for a national award by the Fields in Trust in its quest to find Britain’s best park.
The rockery is one of four parks to make the charity’s shortlist from more than 200 nominations after more than 10,000 public votes were cast.
It is the top park in England – the other three parks are from other parts of the UK. They are Castle Gardens, in Antrim, Pontypool Park, in Torfaen, and Rouken Glen Park, in East Renfrewshire, just outside Glasgow.
Those nominating each of the four green spaces have been invited to Lord’s Cricket Ground for the Fields in Trust Awards on Wednesday 30 November when the overall winner will be announced.
Andy Jeavons, the garden manager at the Rockery, said: “I am absolutely thrilled with it being shortlisted.
“I nominated the garden because of the fantastic comments I constantly receive from the public, praising the garden. The colour, interest and variety of wildlife we get are stunning.
“The final awards day should be a great day, whatever the result. I’m pleased to be representing CityParks and extremely proud to have just got this far.”
The rock garden has been lovingly restored by volunteers and CityParks staff with plants of year-round interest, including the winter months.
The winner will take over the mantle of Britain’s Best Park from Telford Town Park in Shropshire which was named the public’s favourite local green space in the inaugural vote last year.
Councillor Gill Mitchell, who chairs the Brighton and Hove City Council Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “It’s great that the Rockery has been shortlisted for the UK’s Best Park and council staff and volunteers are getting the recognition they deserve for all their wonderful work.”
It may very well be a beautiful garden of great interest except for one major thing it is no good for the disabled who have to rely on scooters or chairs to be mobile like my wife and I, we have been past it several times but unable to go in to see any of it, to me personally I find it a bit discriminatory and something should be done to rectify this so everyone can enjoy the gardens
Agreed, it’s not exactly accessible for those with limited mobility, but this is mainly due to the fact that it’s built into a very steep hill. The paving slabs are pretty treacherous when wet, even for the light-footed, but aside from resolving this, I’m not sure what can be done to improve accessibility. Any suggestions?
Its just one of those things, its a tiny park on a steep slope. They can’t do much except cut a winding sloped walkway through it and destroy the way it was made, or carry you through. I personally would just cut your losses with this one, I don’t even see why you make the point when the situation is easily thought through and WE GOT AN AWARD AT STAKE, YO.