’Last year The Cornfield Project’ won the public vote to become Northern Ireland’s flagship site for Grow Wild, the UK-wide wild flower initiative.

Work is now well underway to transform a patch of land between the Ballysally and Millburn estates into a beautiful shared space.

The project, a joint enterprise between Ballysally and Millburn received £120,000 to transform and develop an underused area between the two estates, strengthening community links and transforming the space into an engaging, exciting space that will benefit local residents by bringing people together with wild flowers.

The Cornfield Project also aims to tackle issues of low employment and health by creating activities which will increase people`s confidence, enable them to develop new skills and bring opportunities for fun and education.

This week diggers arrived to clear the site to build community training gardens and a new wetland area.

The local communities will be directly involved in wild flower sowing and growing, will create beautiful sensory gardens in which to wander, grow their own veg, provide outdoor classroom space for schools, give their young people somewhere to go and something to do, and much more.

Project manager Catherine Armstrong said: “It’s great to see this work underway and very exciting for all of us. This is a fantastic opportunity for the people of both estates and we are now looking for more volunteers to help work on the project and bring the gardens to life.”