Vote now for our beautiful home in Green Flag award

Last year saw the rolling parkland secure the award for the fourth year running and we need your help to make it a historic five years in a row.

In order to make sure we can celebrate this year head to the Green Flag People's Choice Award website and make your voice heard.

The vote comes after the stunning grounds won a Green Flag Award for the sixth year on the bounce – securing entry to the prestigious public prize.

Grounds Manager Marcus Clayton said: “It is a great honour to be in the running for this incredible award for the fifth year in a row and it’d be amazing for the University and Colchester community to get behind us.

“Wivenhoe Park is there for everyone to enjoy and I am so privileged to be a custodian for this historical site.

“Retaining our Green Flag Award for the sixth-year running was amazing and recognised the great work of our Grounds Team.

“But being named People’s Choice Award winner again, would really be the cherry on top as it shows how important Wivenhoe Park is to our community.”

He added: “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.”

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.

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.

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.

Vote now for Wivenhoe Park before polls close on 31 October.

The winners will be announced live at the virtual award ceremony on the 15 November.