Stokenchurch Wins the Community Award AGAIN in Bucks Best Kept Village!

A very proud moment for Stokenchurch Parish Council and, most importantly, for our whole community.

Following our concerns about this year’s Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village judging, we formally appealed the original result and requested that Stokenchurch be rejudged.

We are incredibly pleased to announce that Stokenchurch has now been rejudged by the Chairman of Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village and we have been awarded the Community Award for the SECOND YEAR RUNNING!

Even better, following the rejudging, Stokenchurch has gained an additional 2 points.

This is particularly significant because, following the original judging, our score had fallen by 8 points from our 2025 score of 193. We raised concerns because, despite the huge amount of work undertaken across the village, the original feedback gave us very little practical information about what we had done wrong or, importantly, what we could do to improve.

So what have we actually done?

Over the past year, an enormous amount of work has gone into improving Stokenchurch:

5 tree guards repainted

Our village flag restored

15 rotten bollards removed

Belisha beacons repaired and cleaned

5 bus shelters thoroughly cleaned and all bus flags and timetables replaced

2 bus shelters completely repainted and restored

3 village boundary gates restored and repainted

100+ village signs cleaned

25+ street name plates cleaned

2 traffic islands cleared of dirt and weeds

2 pedestrian crossings cleared of dirt and weeds

4 large planters replanted with stunning displays

10 street-lamp column planters replanted

Bollard paving areas restored and overgrown grass removed

1 additional bollard repainted

And that’s just the work we have been able to list!

All of this work has been documented on our Facebook page throughout the year.

A change in approach

One of the important outcomes of our appeal has been the introduction of clearer criteria for judging.

Our concern with the original judging was not simply that we had lost marks , it was that the feedback provided to us gave us very little meaningful information about where we had fallen short or what we could realistically do differently.

We therefore asked for a rejudging, something we understand to be the first time Stokenchurch has ever asked for this in the history of the Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village Competition.

We are extremely grateful to the Chairman for accepting our appeal and taking the time to come back to Stokenchurch to reassess the village.

The new judging process and clearer criteria give us something much more valuable than simply a score: they give us a clearer understanding of what we can work towards next year.

Our intention throughout has never been to criticise the volunteers who give their time to the competition. We simply wanted to understand how we could improve and ensure that the enormous amount of work undertaken by our residents, businesses, volunteers and Parish Council was being assessed against clear and consistent expectations.

And this award belongs to Stokenchurch

We are absolutely delighted that the Community Award has been retained for a second consecutive year.

A huge congratulations and thank you to everyone who contributes to making Stokenchurch such a special place.

In particular, we want to recognise the incredible efforts of:

Stokenchurch Memorial Hall

Stokenchurch Library

Coffee on the Green

Mowchak Restaurant

Stokenchurch Dental Practice

The floral displays, gardens, presentation and pride shown by these organisations and businesses make a huge difference to the appearance of our village.

We were particularly pleased that the Memorial Hall and War Memorial gardens received such positive recognition. The work that goes into maintaining these areas is truly Herculean, and they look fantastic.

And, of course, a huge thank you once again to Chairman Seamus Doyle for repainting our village flagpole.

And we’re not stopping!

When we questioned the original result, we said that it had most certainly not demotivated us.

We meant it.

If anything, the experience has made us even more determined to continue improving Stokenchurch.

We will take the clearer criteria from this year’s rejudging, build on everything we’ve already achieved and continue working with our residents, businesses, volunteers and community groups.

Two Community Awards in two years.

Thank you to everyone who has helped make it possible.

Stokenchurch — let’s make 2027 even better.