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Ask any of us here at Secret London what our favourite thing about London is, and we’ll likely start going off about the city’s incredible amount of greenery. For a city that is so often dismissed as a concrete jungle, London is actually full of gorgeous, verdant places to reconnect with nature. And now we can confidently say that our parks are officially world-class. That’s because hundreds of London’s green oases have been recognised with a special Green Flag Award.
The Green Flag Award is an awards scheme based around the need for access to, and importance of maintaining, parks and green spaces in a city environment. Award-winning parks are singled out for being well-managed and for setting a “standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.” Any green space can be submitted for the award, but they have to stand up to some pretty stringent criteria.
And London has shown up strong, with a whopping 537 recognitions on the list. Needless to say, we’ve got some pretty spectacular green spaces in the capital!
The Green Flag Award
The award was founded back in 1997, when green spaces across the UK had been left derelict and neglected by decades of underfunding. Since the introduction of the recognition, innumerable charming green spaces have been saved from disrepair.
The award is split up into three main categories:
- The Green Flag Award®
- The Green Flag Community Award®
- Green Heritage Site Accreditation
The Green Flag Award is the main award, which is available to any freely accessible park or green space. This can include everything from town parks to nature reserves, university campuses, cemeteries and crematoria, and even water parks.
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The Green Flag Community Award recognises other freely available spaces that may not be accessible at all times or have restricted open days.
And last, but most certainly not least, is the Green Heritage Site Accreditation. This recognition can be achieved by any site that already has a Green Flag Award, and “is of local or national historic interest, or contains features of historic interest”.
London’s award-winning parks
In total, 452 of London’s parks were awarded a Green Flag Award. Additionally, 37 of London’s green spaces received Green Heritage Site Accreditation, and 48 areas received the Green Flag Community Award.
Now, we couldn’t possibly write the full list of the award-winning parks here. That would turn this into an exhausting list of park names! But here are a few of our favourites that were recognised with a Green Flag Award:
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As well as the general Green Flag Award, some of London’s grassy expanses were recognised with Green Heritage Site Accreditation or a Green Flag Community Award. Among them, our particular favourites are:
- City of London Cemetery and Crematorium – Green Heritage Site Accreditation
- Highgate Wood – Green Heritage Site Accreditation
- Victoria Park – Green Heritage Site Accreditation
- Bushy Park – Green Heritage Site Accreditation
- Hyde Park – Green Heritage Site Accreditation
- Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses – Green Flag Community Award
- Mudchute Park and Farm – Green Flag Community Award
- Surrey Docks Farm – Green Flag Community Award
- Tate Modern Community Garden – Green Flag Community Award
- Hackney Community Tree Nursery and Edible Forest Garden – Green Flag Community Award
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You can see a map of the Green Flag Award Winners from around the world here.