Britain in Bloom Best Small Town in the UK 2024!

They’ve only gone and done it! Gold and winner of the Best Small Town Category in the National RHS Britain in Bloom Finals 2024. They are extremely proud, emotional and grateful to absolutely everyone who has travelled with them on their Stonehouse in Bloom journey over the years. So much hard work by everyone involved.

Stonehouse in Bloom fought off some very tough and worthy competition to scoop a Gold Award and Best Small Town in the UK Award.

52 finalists from across the UK competed in 11 categories from Small Village to City and Coastal to Urban Community.

Some of the SIB team headed up to the awards ceremony at The Old Trafford stadium in Manchester to receive both awards from horticulturist, author, and television presenter Frances Tophill.

Each of the 17 Bloom Regions and Nations, which run individual Bloom competitions, nominate the highest-performing entries to compete in the UK Finals. The group’s efforts were judged according to criteria that scores their commitment to improving the local environment, community engagement and horticultural excellence.

Chair of Stonehouse in Bloom Pam Swain said the group were extremely proud, emotional and grateful: “We are absolutely thrilled with this result not only for the Stonehouse in Bloom team, but for all the other groups in the community who have worked with us. We started with just a small group and now we work with the Town Council, Cotswold Canals Trust, GCRP, Hopelands and Park Federation Schools, Moreton Hill Care Centre, Stonehouse Court Hotel, GWR, Network Rail, Aboricultural Association to name a few, High Street businesses, and many more organisations. There is a real sense of pride in our town and huge support
across the local community and wider Stroud District”.

Stonehouse has consistently won Gold in the Heart of England in Bloom competition since 2017 and has been judged the region’s Best Small Town every year since 2018, however this year‘s national awards have cemented years of hard work and commitment by the community in Stonehouse, as noted by the RHS Britain in Bloom judges in 2024: “The entire community of Stonehouse has come together to foster a sense of professionalism and pride.”

For the full list of national results, go to the RHS website https://www.rhs.org.uk/get-involved/britain-in-bloom/bloom-awards-results

As part of Stonehouse in Bloom in 2024, the Stonehouse Community Arboretum was awarded international accreditation and the group were Highly Commended in the Stonehouse Town Council Civic Awards.

Awarded a GOLD and Winner of Best Small Town Category in the RHS Britain in Bloom Awards 2024

Press Coverage

Stroud News & Journal

Stroud Times

BBC Radio Gloucestershire Interview (available for 30 days from 25th October 2024)

The journey so far…

Back in 2015, a group of volunteers set out to match earlier achievements in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Heart of England in Bloom competition.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is the UK’s leading gardening charity. They aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place – they are committed to inspiring everyone to grow.

With the support of the Town Council, the team set about filling the town with flowers. Generous financial support from town centre businesses meant that colourful hanging baskets and lamppost planters could be seen along much of the main street. Other floral displays were planted at the railway station, in The Old Chapel Garden (formerly The Rest Garden), around the War Memorial and on the Town Greens.

That year, Stonehouse in Bloom won a Silver Award. Since then, they have won a Silver Gilt Award, 8 Gold medals, Best Small Town Category since 2018. In 2019 The landscaping of The Old Chapel Garden won ‘Outstanding’ in the separate ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ competition. Stonehouse in Bloom were also Finalists in the National Britain in Bloom Awards for 2020, which was delayed until 2022 due to Covid, where they were awarded a Silver Gilt. Followed by wining Gold and Best Small Town in the UK category in 2024

In 2019 SIB also officially ‘Adopted’ Stonehouse Train Station. Stonehouse in Bloom have been working in partnership with Great Western Railway to put summer planting displays at Stonehouse Station since the year they started in 2015.

What is it? Station adopting brings people together to make a positive difference to their community, creating pride in their station and community. These groups of volunteers play a critical role in making their stations welcoming, pleasant and attractive places. Often their work extends beyond basic upkeep, incorporating community gardening and food growing, local arts projects, and workshops and visits with children and young people. Volunteering is evidenced to benefit both individuals taking part and wider communities.

In 2023 Stonehouse in Bloom were a Stroud News & Journal Community Awards Finalist – Environmental or Project of the Year Category and were nominated for a Stonehouse Town Council Civic Award, as well as being Highly Commended in 2024.

The aims of Stonehouse in Bloom are to encourage the local community to improve and care for their local environment using the themes of Horticulture, Environment & Community.

Stonehouse is very lucky to have a dedicated band of volunteers who work very hard to keep the town looking clean, tidy and full of colour all year round. They weed and plant and water the floral displays around Stonehouse and in particular make the town look magnificent during the summer months. They are funded mainly by donations, their own fundraising and various grants. Organisations that have either previously financially supported Stonehouse in Bloom, and or continue to do so, are Great Western Railways, Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership, Barnwood Trust, Gloucestershire County Council and Stonehouse Town Council. Local businesses, residents and community groups also support the group either financially or by giving up their time or resources. A full list of up-to-date supporters can be found in the portfolio below.

The Portfolio

View their activities

Future Plans

Stonehouse in Bloom won’t be resting on their gardening laurels, building on their national win they have many future plans, including seeking a larger piece of land to create a bigger Community Garden where they will have room to welcome a greater number of community volunteers, after making contact with a Social Prescribing Lead in the town.

This is following the success of their Community Garden at the station used by Building Circles, a small Gloucestershire Charity that enables adults with learning disabilities to live more active lives, with greater choice and opportunity.

The group also want to continue and build upon the existing partnerships that they have that are focused on the canal regeneration. They hope to further protect and enhance wildlife, promote the canal’s wellbeing and health benefits as well as promote Stonehouse as a tourism destination, all whilst helping to secure it’s future prosperity for all. This has been greatly helped by the canalside Ship Inn site recently being Licensed to the Town Council for Ship Inn Community Enterprise (SpICE) to create a Community Canal Hub on the site.

Stonehouse in Bloom will continue to keep the community informed of activities, wider developments and local events of benefit to the town. You can catch-up with everything they are doing in the town via their Facebook page here.

How to get involved

If you, your organisation or business would like to be involved in their 2024-2025 campaign, please get in touch.

Stonehouse in Bloom always welcomes new members. So, if you want to get involved to improve your town, get active, meet people or you just enjoy gardening, then please contact Deborah Curtis at deborah.curtis647580@gmail.com.