The Rye in High Wycombe and Marlow’s Higginson Park will proudly fly their Green Flags for another year after they were named among the best open spaces in the UK.

The parks boast the highest possible standards, are beautifully maintained and provide excellent facilities to visitors, International Green Flag Award judges have ruled.

The prestigious award has been bestowed on The Rye for the fourth consecutive year - with recent improvements including the upgrading of the cycle path surface behind The Dyke, the planting of the annual meadow and the installation of owl boxes.

And It will be the twelfth successive year that Higginson Park will fly the Green Flag, withowl boxes installed and the annual meadow planted beside the popular skatepark in recent weeks.

Both parks are managed and maintained by Wycombe District Counci. Cllr Julia Adey, cabinet member for Community, said: “We are absolutely delighted to once again receive a Green Flag Award for two of our major parks from Keep Britain Tidy.

“This award recognises that people in High Wycombe and Marlow are benefitting from green spaces of the highest quality.

“It also highlights the excellent and hard work this council, our contractors Quadron and John O’Conner put in to maintaining the high standards in our open spaces and parks.”

The Green Flag Awards come just weeks after a council survey of park-users revealed 98 percent of people asked said the two open spaces and Hughenden Park were either very good or good, with 96 percent saying they felt safe during their visit.

Residents praised the way the parks were maintained by the council, the access the open spaces provide to the River Thames and the River Wye, and that all three parks were good for children.

The Rye in High Wycombe and Marlow’s Higginson Park are among 1,582 parks around the country to fly the Green Flag this year.

International Green Flag Award scheme manager Paul Todd said: “We are delighted to be celebrating another record-breaking year for the Green Flag Award scheme.

“All the flags flying this year are a testament to the efforts of the thousands of men and women who work tirelessly to maintain the high standards demanded by the Green Flag Award.”