A WOODLAND wonderland created by Outside Lives is transforming the countryside on the borders of Denbighshire and Flintshire.

Community led social enterprise Outside Lives' team of almost 200 volunteers are repurposing the land around Aberduna Hall, near Maeshafn, into a four-and-a-half acre eco-friendly field of dreams.

The project is being funded by two grants totalling almost £60,000 from the £1.3 million Green Communities Fund run by rural regeneration agency Cadwyn Clwyd.

Green Communities aims to bring people and nature together to transform their local area into a more desirable place to live, work and visit and increase opportunities to volunteer locally outdoors while also creating opportunities for wildlife to flourish.

The Green Communities project is supported by the Welsh Government's Enabling Natural Resources and Wellbeing (ENRaW) programme and funded by its Rural Communities Rural Development Programme, paid for by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), and Welsh Government.

The Fund supports sustainable community-led projects across the rural areas of Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy. 

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Outside Lives managing director, Lucy Powell said: “The first grant helped us build the wildlife viewing platforms which are massively used by visitors to the site and since then the money from the Green Communities fund has helped us provide disabled toilets at the top and bottom of the network of wheelchair-accessible footpaths we’ve created through the woodland.

“We have also rescued the pond which was originally created by my dad – my parents live at Aberduna Hall – and that’s proving a haven for wildlife and we are also creating a wildlife corridor connecting our woodland with an adjacent patch owned by the Woodland Trust.

“The Cadwyn grants have meant we have been able to make sure that there are places for people here and places for nature which we can’t touch but we can see what’s happening there.”

Cadwyn Clwyd’s Green Communities Project Manager Haf Roberts added: “The team at Outside Lives have worked extremely hard to push through improvements onsite with the help of the support from Green Communities.

“It enables the local community to benefit from the environmental assets offered by the pond and viewing platform, and educational and wellbeing opportunities offered by the classroom and counselling spaces at various locations onsite.

“The project enables the local community to connect with nature by way of the outdoor facilities provided at the site, bringing environmental benefits whilst also supporting personal wellbeing and growth.”