Lancashire Best Kept Village Competition

Process

Lancashire VillageThe work of the committee goes on all year round as we prepare for the Lancashire Best Kept Village Competition. Competing villages too will thinking about preparations and the spirit of having a 'Best Kept Village' is one that lasts throughout the year.

Forms are sent out to known contacts, usually Town Council clerks in January. Entry Forms are also available online to download. Entries governing classes and categories entered to be submitted by the closing date. Entrants will receive confirmation and publicity material (May).

The training of judges begins in late April and assessment of villages by two judges at a time of our choosing takes place from June.

Two teams of preliminary judges visit each village during June and July and award marks in the various categories. The villages with the highest marks in each category will receive a further visit from committee members during August. The two villages in each category with the highest marks will go forward to the final judging at the end of August.

Lancashire Village Winners are announced at the Lancashire Best Kept Village Competition Awards Ceremony in October.

This end of season event lasts a couple of hours and trophies for winning villages and certificates for 'Outstanding Feature Awards' are given out for outstanding contributions in the various categories.

 

News: Latest

Having begun in the spring with Judges training sessions and the call for entries, the 2024 competition has now concluded; our Presentation Event took place at Eaves Hall West Bradford 14th October and The Committee is pleased to announce the results for 'Best Kept Village', 'Outstanding Features' and new 'Urban Communities' categories. Results.

Best Kept Village Winners (2024):
Final judged by Edwin Booth, Chairman of Booths Supermarkets.
◆ Champion - Grindleton
◆ Large - Longton
◆ Medium - Waddington
◆ Small - Brindle
◆ Hamlet - Little Eccleston

Urban Community (2024):
◆ Ingol

Outstanding Features (2024):
There were 247 nominated 'Outstanding Features' from Lancashire villages across the 16 categories.

Full Results (PDF).

We would like to thank all the villages taking part this year and look forward to visiting as part of the judging process. As ever we much appreciate all who take part and support this event, especially our Judges, Committee and sponsors.

In 2019 the 'Constitution of the Competition' was updated and streamlined, simplifying all paperwork used by villages and judges; the Certificate of Merit part of the competition was overhauled, replaced by a secondary competition called 'Outstanding Features' - villages entering the main competition able to nominate up to 10 Outstanding Features of their village, and certificates awarded to the best in each class. Ahead of the 2023 competition there was further review of the Constitution, entry and judging criteria and a pilot in place to add a 'Tidy Towns' section - this has evolved to become 'Urban Communities'.

Downloads

Other Information

'10 Lancashire villages that you should visit' Lancashire Life (article)

'10 Most Picturesque Villages in Lancashire' Hotels.com (Go Guide). Visit period drama sets, unique hamlets and areas of outstanding beauty…

Did you know there are regional best kept village competitions across the United Kingdom?

Our thanks to our 2024 sponsors: Barton Grange Group, Eaves Hall Hotel at West Radford, Lancashire Association of Local Councils (LALC).