07 June 2016
Park in Finland are proud to fly the Green Flag Award for the first time
Lepaa campus park is 20 hectares situated in countryside 10 km from Hämeenlinna and is the oldest and most prestigious institute where you can study horticulture in Finland.
The site dates back to 600 AD, in the 18th century the cemetery and the church of the municipality were situated in Lepaa. The site became a private manor and the last owners donated Lepaa to Government to become an established agricultural and gardening school.
Over the past 100 years the Institute of gardening and University of Applied Sciences for Built Environment (landscape design, construction and management) and for Horticulture have been developed at Lepaa.
Lepaa campus park is a learning environment for students with hundreds of plant species, fruit and vegetable gardens, nursery production, glasshouse. It consists of many different kinds of landscape features developed over the decades, such as an English landscape style park and a formal garden.
The site welcomes visitors and there are tourism services located in the manor house.
A garden exhibition is held in the park every year and Lepaa smart park has been developed during the last three years to utilise mobile technology to enhance visitor experience.
International Green Flag Award Scheme manager, Paul Todd said:
"We are delighted to see the first Green Flag Award flying in Finland, joining parks and green spaces in the UK and six other countries around the world that have received this prestigious Award.
"Congratulations to Sari Suomalainen and all involved in this fantastic achievement".
Sari Suomalainen, Senior Lecturer said:
"We are delighted that Lepaa campus park has achieved the first Green Flag Award in Finland. Our achievement has generated a lot of interest among green space professional and we hope the international co-operation will grow and we will see many more parks and green spaces achieve the award in future years"
