Finalists of best-kept village competition announced

The finalists of the quest to find Wiltshire’s best-kept villages – The CPRE Wiltshire and The Hills Group Best Kept Village Competition 2021 – have been announced.

This year’s competition started with 28 villages from around the county who were put under the microscope by the expert team of judges who are looking for criteria including tidiness, cleanliness, presentation and village community spirit.

Castle Eaton, near Swindon, has been announced as this year’s Best Newcomer and will receive a £150 cash prize.

“The parish councils and their volunteers had clearly been hard at work, achieving encouragingly high standards and making the judges’ task that much more difficult,” said Mike Manson from CPRE Wiltshire.

Each village is judged within the categories of Small, Medium and Large and in this first round they are only judged within their own district: West Wiltshire, North Wiltshire, South Wiltshire or Kennet (East Wiltshire).

The final results will be announced in August, and on September 26 the presentation to the winners will be made by the Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire and CPRE Wiltshire’s president, Sarah Troughton.
The results are:

North Wiltshire and Swindon

Large villages
1st Blunsdon
2nd = Tadpole Garden Village Box
2nd = Brinkworth
4th Box

Medium villages
1st Oaksey
2nd Dauntsey

Small villages
1st Castle Eaton
2nd Hankerton
3rd Marston Meysey
4th Upper & Lower Seagry

Kennet

Large villages
1st Ramsbury
2nd Seend
3rd Bromham
4th Rowde

Medium villages
1st All Cannings
2nd Froxfield

Small villages
1st Woodborough
2nd Rushall
3rd Ham

West Wiltshire

Large villages
1st Hilperton (only entrant)

Medium villages
1st Sutton Veny (only entrant)

Small villages
1st Bishopstrow
2nd Bukington
3rd Beanacre

South Wiltshire

Large villages
1st Whiteparish (only entrant)

Medium villages
1st Tilshead
2nd Maiden Bradley
3rd Dinton

Small villages
No entrants

Each winning village will receive a certificate and in July it will be judged against the similar-sized villages in the other districts, to determine the best kept large, medium and small villages in Wiltshire.

Also in July the Laurence Kitching Award will be judged. This involves the six villages who won their size categories in the past two competitions (2018 and 2019) and who are therefore ineligible for the main competition.

The results of this second round will be published in August. Award ceremonies will then be held sequentially at the three winning villages on Sunday 26th September when CPRE Wiltshire’s President, the Lord-Lieutenant for Wiltshire, Sarah Troughton, will pull away the Union Flag surmounting the shield and commemorative plaques will be presented. Cash prizes between £30 and £200 will be awarded to all villages in this second round.

The competition is sponsored by The Hills Group and Princeton Homes.

Pictured: The Red Lion at Castle Eaton – named Best Newcomer in the competition – by Philip Halling, published under Creative Commons Licence