A detailed report from the Green Flag Award Scheme has recognised Chiswick House as an “exceptional park, run by a dedicated and enthusiastic team of staff and volunteers who clearly love their workplace” – and has singled out the welcoming, well cared-for gardens and rewarding community engagement programme as especially noteworthy.

The report praised the Chiswick House team’s ongoing efforts to garden sustainably, protect the park’s wildlife and promote on-site biodiversity, detailing the broad range of habitats available and noting our recent efforts to monitor and record important species such as hedgehogs and bats.

The visiting Green Flag team also spoke about the popularity of the Kitchen Garden. Earlier this year Chiswick House made the decision to make this walled 17^th-century growing space free for everyone to enter, allowing visiting families to see for themselves how fruits, grains, herbs and vegetables, as well as cut flowers, are grown there in an organic, environmentally-friendly way.

In response to the feedback, Rosie Fyles, Head of Gardens at Chiswick House, said:

This year the Green Flag award means even more as the comments were written by a ‘secret shopper’, visiting the gardens and sharing their experience. The team have worked hard to ensure everybody feels a warm welcome and that the beauty of the gardens can bring benefit to all who visit. The fact that this came across is very encouraging. Gardens are for people and this sort of feedback makes the hard work worthwhile.

Heart-warmingly, the report’s authors noted just how “enthusiastic and passionate” the volunteers they spoke to were about the park and the work they do here, concluding – correctly – that “community involvement sits at the heart of Chiswick House and Gardens Trust”.

Finally, the report highlighted some of the small but significant measures that we take to keep things running smoothly here, from offering dog waste bags at all entrance gates (generously provided by the charity Dogs Trust), to providing visitors with clear maps and on-site signage.

The Green Flag Award Scheme is run by Keep Britain Tidy, a leading environmental charity that sets the standard for the management of parks and beaches and inspires people to be litter-free, to waste less and live more sustainably.

Their accreditation scheme is the international quality mark for parks and green spaces – and it means a lot to everyone at CHGT that, alongside achieving this coveted accreditation several years running, we have also received such encouraging feedback from the Green Flag Assessment team.

The full summary quotes from the report read as follows:

This is an exceptional park run by a dedicated and enthusiastic team of staff and volunteers who clearly love their workplace. The site was immaculate, facilities are very good, landscape attractive and well cared for, the scope and range of volunteering is brilliant and the shared vision for community engagement and partnering project is impressive. Congratulations to everyone at Chiswick House and Gardens Trust.

Xanthe Arvanitakis, Director of Chiswick House and Gardens, said:

This glowing feedback from leading environmental charity Keep Britain tidy and their prestigious ‘Green Flag Award’ scheme means a lot to myself, to our dedicated gardens team, and to everyone who works here at Chiswick House. I know it will also mean a lot to all the volunteers who generously give their time to keep the gardens looking beautiful all year-round.

“Going forwards, we’re excited about building on the positive work we’re already doing – with big plans to dramatically expand our volunteering and community engagement programmes and boost the biodiversity of our woodland areas.

“As the report notes, community involvement really does sit at the heart of Chiswick House and Gardens Trust – and we’re proud to see our hard work in this area, and our importance as a welcoming, sustainable West London green space, recognised.