The Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village Competition was founded in 1957 as an initiative driven by Sir Francis Dashwood and the Local Councils’ Association. The Competition’s objective is to encourage entrants to work together as a community, involving all age groups, to make villages and towns more attractive places, not only for residents but also for visitors. Due to Covid restrictions, the Competition was unable to run in 2020 and 2021 and has now been relaunched for 2022.
Entrants are marked by judges who travel around the county and look at several specific features of each village, determining how neat, clean, and attractive they are. These include floral displays, playing fields, children’s play areas, graveyards, overall appearance and, importantly, evidence of community effort.
Villages can enter for one of six different cups according to their population. Judging takes place between 1st June and early July every year and the standards are very high amongst the 50-60 entries each year.
If you’d like to enter your village, you’ll need to submit your application between the 1st March 2022 and 30th April via The Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village website. Full entry details and application forms are available to download at https://bucksbkv.co.uk/
Best of luck!