Twenty-three! That is the incredible number of Green Flags that Hackney now boasts, its highest-ever total, thanks to the hard work of the Council’s parks and green spaces team and the local community.

Stonebridge Gardens, known locally as Snake Park, in Haggerston and Kynaston Gardens in Stoke Newington, were the latest recipients on Tuesday of the UK’s top parks and green spaces award.

A recent makeover at Stonebridge Gardens saw the play area and mosaic snake refurbished, and an old piece of tarmac pitch replaced with brand new sports facilities. The park now boasts a games area for football, basketball and three table tennis tables. There is also a new entrance, benches and pathways.

Meanwhile Kynaston Gardens, a small green space in Stoke Newington, has had a new lease of life over the past few years thanks to £80,000 in funding, secured by the parks user group, which has seen the space become a community hub, with local growing projects, a children’s play area and two new painted murals.

The Green Flag Awards mean they are now officially some of the best green spaces in Britain after both earned the national benchmark for the first time, and join 21 other green spaces in Hackney which have kept their Green Flags. Hackney has one of the highest numbers of Green Flag parks in London.

The Council’s green-fingered staff are responsible for managing and maintaining 58 sites across the borough, including major green spaces like Hackney Marshes and Clissold Park.