Vote now to celebrate our stunning Colchester Campus in the People's Choice Award

The polls have opened to find the UK's top ten publicly-accessible green spaces – and our beautiful Wivenhoe Park is in the running.

It has consistently finished in the top ten in recent years and is the only university campus to achieve this honour.

Boasting three lakes, 2,800 trees, car-free jogging routes and 40 acres of sports fields, our 220-acre Colchester campus really does have something for everyone.

It has an incredible history which dates to 1759 when Isaac Rebow asked Thomas Reynolds to build him a mansion house.

The park itself was designed by Richard Woods and was remodelled in 1846-7 by T. Hopper.

It is so beautiful it inspired a masterpiece by famous landscape artist John Constable which now hangs in the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

Today, it is our home and the parkland provides a vital resource to staff, students and the local community.

With many students and locals able to explore the rolling greenspace during the pandemic and exercise in nature.

In fact, the University is the home of Green Exercise - we coined the term in 2003 - and visitors can enjoy the many positive effects of exercising in nature.

While our social media star, Campus Cat, might not venture much beyond the campus' main squares, the parkland is home to squirrels, ducks, geese, woodpeckers, herons, cormorants and, occasionally, a pair of kingfishers and several families of Muntjac deer.

Head of Sustainability and Grounds, Rob Davey, said: “Retaining our Green Flag Award for the fifth-year running was amazing and recognised the great work of our Grounds Team.

“Being named once again as a People’s Choice Award winner would be fantastic as it shows how important Wivenhoe Park is to our community.

“Being a Green Flag Award winner is really important to us as it shows we have the highest possible environmental standards, our parkland is beautifully maintained and we have excellent visitor facilities.”

Vote now for Wivenhoe Park before polls close on November 14.