The best kept villages in Wiltshire in the CPRE Wiltshire Best Kept Village Competition are Ramsbury, Tilshead and Castle Eaton.
Urchfont, in the Vale of Pewsey, won the Laurence Kitching Award – also called the Winner of Winners’ competition – out of the six winning villages from the past two years.
This year’s CPRE Wiltshire Best Kept Village Competition was sponsored by The Hills Group for an eighth consecutive year: The Competition was not held in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.
Expert judging teams from the Wiltshire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Wiltshire Council put each village under the microscope in May and June. The 39 village entries were tested against tidiness, cleanliness, presentation, conservation and village community spirit. Each village is judged in the categories of ‘Small’, ‘Medium’ and ‘Large’ and in the first round only in their own district: West Wiltshire, North Wiltshire, South Wiltshire and Kennet (East Wiltshire).
In July the winning villages in each district were tjudged against each other in the County Round, using fresh judging teams. Final results were:
Large Village Medium Village Small Village
1st Ramsbury 90 pts 1st Tilshead 86 pts 1st Castle Eaton 97 pts
2nd Whiteparish 84 pts 2nd All Cannings 85 pts 2nd Woodborough 88 pts
3rd Blunsdon 78 pts 3rd = Oaksey 72.5 pts 3rd Bishopstrow 81 pts
4th Hilperton 77 pts 4th = Sutton Veny 69 pts
Different teams of judges were used in each of the three categories, so the points scored should not be contrasted between categories.
Each winning village will be presented with, to keep for a year, an 8ft standard with mounted shield. Awards will be made on Sunday, September 26, by CPRE Wiltshire’s President, the Lord-Lieutenant for Wiltshire, Mrs Sarah Troughton. Commemorative plaques will be presented by Mike Hill, Chief Executive of The Hills Group, and a senior member of Wiltshire Council. Cash prizes and framed certificates are awarded to winning villages and those placed second and third, and Best Newcomer and Merit Award winners. Cash prizes are awarded to fourth-placed villages. All villages who won in the first round receive a framed certificate.