07 June 2016
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"