Northern and southern parks in England, maintained by Continental Landscapes Ltd, have won or retained Green Flag status in this year's prestigious parks awards.

Continental Landscapes, the landscape construction and maintenance specialists, successfully retained its Green Flag and Green Heritage Flag for Kendal Castle and added to the South Lakeland District Council haul by winning one for Park Road Gardens, in Grange-over-Sands, as well.

Meanwhile in southern England the Continental Landscapes Westminster team in the North of the City successfully retained St. John's Wood Church Grounds and Queens Parks Gardens and added Rembrandt Gardens to the list. On the new Westminster South and Cemeteries contracts, which commenced on 1 April 2007, Green Flags were awarded for Victoria Embankment Gardens, Mount Street Gardens, St. Anne's Churchyard and East Finchley Cemetery.

"It's a great achievement," said Simon Goodenough, managing director at Continental Landscapes. "Winning a new one is a feather in the cap for a local area but few people appreciate how hard it is to keep a Green Flag and the work that goes into it by the councils and their teams.

"We're a big part of keeping those parks up to the standard and it's wonderful to see that we are delivering to our clients and the people that use the parks."

John Tweddle, principal parks & open spaces manager of Westminster City Council explained: "We've worked with Continental Landscapes Westminster team since 2000 and have continued to offer excellent green spaces to our communities, the Green Flag proves that our partnership is a successful one."

Tony Naylor at South Lakeland District Council agreed and added: "It could be difficult to compete with the great natural beauty of the Lake District but the parks are popular and beautiful with locals and visitors alike. It's wonderful to win these awards and continue to give people easily accessible parks to complement the challenging, natural terrain surrounding our towns and villages."

The awards were officially presented at ceremonies around the country in July.