Llanfrechfa Grange Walled garden named as one of country's best green spaces...
Keep Wales Tidy has unveiled this year’s Green Flag Award winners – the international mark of a quality park or green space.
Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden has achieved the prestigious Green Flag Community Award in recognition of its dedicated volunteer involvement, high environmental standards and commitment to delivering great quality green space.
This project was established to redesign and restore the derelict old Victorian walled garden adjacent to the new Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran to make it a beautiful and uplifting amenity for the benefit of patients, staff and the general public. It is run by the registered charity 'Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden' and currently has around 30 registered volunteers and 60 associate members. It works in close partnership with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and is supported by many local groups and businesses.
Jan Smith, MBE and chair of the charity said:
"We are delighted to have been awarded the Green Flag once again in recognition of the commitment and hard work put in by our volunteers and supporters to implement this project. We have been working tirelessly to implement our garden design in time for the garden's planned opening in the spring despite all the challenges of the current pandemic. It seems more important than ever that this garden will provide a high quality green haven for everyone visiting the site."
Llanfrechfa Grange is one of 127 community managed green spaces across the country to have met the high standards needed to receive the Green Flag Community Award. This means that Wales still holds a third of the UK’s community Green Flag sites.
The Green Flag Award programme is delivered in Wales by environmental charity Keep Wales Tidy, with support from Welsh Government. Independent green space experts volunteered their time in early autumn to judge applicant sites against eight strict criteria, including biodiversity, cleanliness, environmental management, and community involvement.
Lucy Prisk, Green Flag Coordinator at Keep Wales Tidy said:
“The pandemic has shown just how important high-quality parks and green spaces are to our communities. For many of us, they have been a haven on our doorstep, benefitting our health and well-being.
“The success of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden in achieving the Green Flag Community Award is a testament to the volunteers who have maintained excellent standards under the most challenging circumstances this year. I’d like to congratulate and thank them all for their outstanding commitment.”
A full list of award winners can be found on the Keep Wales Tidy website