Coed-y-Paen won the Best Kept Village competition (for Gwent villages under 200 inhabitants) in 2013 and 2014. The competition is sponsored by the Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations and encourages communities to display a sense of Civic Pride.
Carolyn Seymour and Jan Hargreaves at the 2013 Prizegiving
In 2014 the judges particularly liked the telephone box library, the neat and tidy pub and gardens and the well maintained churchyard. In 2013, The Carpenters Arms also won the award for the Best Village Pub. The village was Highly Commended in 2016 and in 2018 won the award for the Best Kept Village Churchyard.
In 2019 the competition changed format and became ‘Be Proud of Your Community’. You can view our entry here. Coed-y-paen was awarded Silver in the ‘Taking Care of Your Community’ section and Bronze in ‘Go Wildlife & My Favourite Place’ and ‘Remembering Them’.