Four Farncombe, Godalming and Witley beauty spots have been named as Green Flag award winners today.

The Phillips Memorial Park and the Lammas Lands in Godalming, Broadwater Park in Farncombe and Mare Hill in Witley all won the award.

The honours, which recognise the country's best green spaces, are normally awarded in July. This year's announcement was delayed due to Covid-19, and because of the additional work shouldered by staff and volunteers as visitor numbers swelled during lockdown.

The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark for the management of recreational outdoor spaces across the UK and around the world.

This year, 2,061 places achieved the award, having been assessed by an army of more than 1,000 volunteer judges.

The Phillips Memorial Park includes areas of formal planting, formal and informal recreation areas and some areas of semi-natural vegetation. The park is home to the Phillips Memorial Cloister, the town's war memorial, a children's play area, a skatepark, The Burys Field, a bowling green and pavilion, the Rectory Manor animal pound and a bandstand.

In 2011 the park was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to refurbish the cloister, improve access, signage and interpretation throughout the site and increase the range of visitors and volunteers in the park. The park has also retained its Gold award in the large park category at the South & South East in Bloom awards.

The Lammas Lands are a group of floodplain meadows covering 31.8 ha. Most of the area is owned, and the whole site is managed, by Waverley Borough Council.

The Lammas Lands are registered common land, but there are no registered commoners. It is a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI), an Area of High Archaeological Potential and an Area of Strategic Visual Importance.

The site is also designated as an area of Open Access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. It is relatively unexplored archaeologically but has a long cultural history as grassland stretching back to Domesday.

Mare Hill Common covers 40 hectares of heathland, woodland and scrub. A network of paths provides access through varied landscapes, with expansive views towards the Godalming valley and North Downs.

As well as offering the opportunity to enjoy and walk in peaceful natural surroundings, Mare Hill Common supports a wealth of wildlife. The heathland communities are of particular importance as they support a number of rare species, and the site is protected by both UK and EU law.

Mare Hill is a prime site for a range of invertebrates such as bees, solitary wasps which use the hot sandy soils, and the silver studded blue butterfly. Three birds on the European list of threatened species: woodlark, nightjar and Dartford warbler, can be found nesting among the heather and grasses. Five reptile species, including the threatened sand lizard, take advantage of the cover and relative warmth among the heathland shrubs.

Broadwater Park in Farncombe is extremely well used by residents and sports clubs, providing recreational, sporting and leisure opportunities.

It has an historic background and includes two listed items - a Victorian Crinkle Crankle wall and the Old Dairy, which was an estate building when the site was a country estate belonging to the Marshall family.

Today it is is an open park for recreation, and the home of several local sports clubs. The park's centrepiece is the lake, which is used for coarse fishing and supports a number of species of birds. It also has open park land for informal recreation.

Green Flag Award Scheme Manager Paul Todd said: "Parks and green spaces have never been more important for the physical and mental health of everyone.

"All the research shows that spending time in good-quality green space can improve people's health and wellbeing, that is why it is important that they are managed to the recognised standard of the Green Flag Award.

"This is now something that millions more recognise after the challenges of the past six months. All those involved in the Green Flag Award should be congratulated on their achievement."