LONGPARISH is celebrating after it was crowned Hampshire and Isle of Wight’s ‘Best Small Village’.

The village won the award because of its project to save the 300-year-old village pub, The Plough Inn, from being turned into a home. It reopened in September 21 as a community hub and pub. 

Announcing the award, Hampshire Association of Local Councils congratulated Longparish for the huge amount of time, funding and energy that have been dedicated to buying and renovating the historic pub, which is now open for both food and drink and provides a friendly meeting place.

Andy Jolliffe, chairman of Longparish Community Pub Ltd who accepted the award for Longparish, said: "We are delighted to receive this recognition of the enormous amount of energy that has been put in by so many to pull off such a huge project in our little village. The Plough is once more becoming a thriving community asset.”

Chairman of Longparish Parish Council, Peter Hull, accompanied village representatives to the award ceremony on September 29. 

He said: “It was wonderful to share our achievements with representatives from across Hampshire, many of whom are interested in how the parish council took out a Public Works Loan Board loan to invest in the pub as a community hub. We are thrilled that The Plough has been brought alive once more and hope it will serve the village of Longparish for another 300 years!”

At the same award ceremony, Longparish was also awarded runner up in the Best Community Initiative category for a project to refurbish the village play area. 

Led by former parish council chairman, Christian Dryden, and a working party of volunteers from the village, who created the play space which now features a roundabout accessible to wheelchair users and a table tennis table for older children and adults that was added earlier this year.

The project was funded from grants, fundraising and parish council reserves.