'Unique country park' plan for Flintshire gathers pace
A project has been awarded £20,000 to help move forward plans for a 120-acre "unique country park" at a disused quarry in Flintshire.
The park could feature a nature reserve and "celebration of ancient cultures", including a life-size Roman fort and Iron Age farm reconstruction.
The Big Lottery grant will be used to consult local people on the plans.
The Fagl Lane aggregates quarry, near Hope, closed in 2004 after 40 years of operation.
It was purchased in 2015 by the Park in the Past community interest group.
Park in the Past hope to turn the site into a recreational facility with a visitor centre, while nature trails and footpaths would surround the quarry's 35-acre lake.
A spokesman said: "The project will turn back the clock some 2,000 years to enable everyone in the community to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors, discover how previous generations would have lived, and experience the world as it was in first century Britain."
The project hopes to secure a further £2m from the Big Lottery in April 2017.