OKEHAMPTON’S Simmons Park is in the running to be crowned UK’s Best Park 2019 — but it needs your vote to help it beat the competition.

The town’s park has has been nominated for open spaces charity Fields in Trust’s UK’s Best Park 2019 Award along with 363 others, including 27 from the wider South West.

People in and around Okehampton have until noon on Monday (August 19) to cast their vote for the title of the UK’s best park.

The votes will decide the top park in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with an overall winner to be judged by Fields in Trust and announced on Thursday, September 12.

The top park in each region will also be announced.

In addition, the parks placed in the top 20 per cent of the nominations will each be given “much loved” status by the charity.

Simmons Park parkkeeper James McGahey, nominated the park originally created for the town in 1906 and restored to its former glory in 2002 with lottery funding along with money from local councils.

James said: ‘The park has an immense history and it is the main focal point of the town and the renovations it had a number of years ago turned it into spectacular facility for Okehampton.

‘It has got everything, it is a real mixture, with historic buildings like the Swiss house and wildlife trails through the woods.

‘It is a great facility for the community and I felt it needed to be recognised by a wider audience and put on the map a bit more.’

Simmons Park is named after the benefactor who gave it to the town, self-made man Sydney Simmons. He was born in the town and went away to make his fortune before returning to bestow his wealth for the benefit of the people of Okehampton.

He bought the land that is now Simmons Park in 1905 and paid for it to be landscaped as a park with ornamental fountains, waterfalls and the beautiful Swiss style chalet.

Okehampton town mayor Julie Yelland said she had already cast her vote for the park.

‘Simmons Park is a very special park,’ she said. ‘It nestles against the wild backdrop of Dartmoor between the moor and the town itself. It is also very special in terms of how it came into being as a result of Sydney Simmons.

‘You have got the two elements, Simmons Park itself on the right-hand side of the river with the woodland walks and then there is the more cultivated side where children can play.’