Best Community Involvement

Special Awards are discretionary and are selected by the adjudication panel from amongst the category Award Winners and can vary from year to year.

BLAKEDOWN LANDSCAPES (SE)

 special AWard WINNER 2019

VENETIAN WATERWAYS, GREAT YARMOUTH

The Waterways on the seafront at Great Yarmouth were designed as a tourist attraction in the 1920s using a landscape with novelty and stylistic effect, at complete odds with much of that period’s landscape design ethos of designing with the land and accentuating the natural beauty of a location. The canals and gardens were hand built and planted by over 400 unemployed men after WWI to provide work and to boost domestic tourism. The Waterways have now been restored using a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and funds from the Council.

They have been re-injected with horticultural and rockery richness and retain their fun and nostalgic air. Their quirky distinctiveness and numerous and eclectic ornamental features, including an island thatched café, Venetian bridges, interlinking island rock gardens, cottage ornee style thatched shelters and expansive floral planting reflect the vibrant and extrovert nature of Great Yarmouth as a seaside resort. The Boating Lake has been structurally improved and re-lined to once again open for traditional rowing boat hire.