Park life gets £2.5m boost to restore Victorian splendour

More than 2.5 million is to be spent on giving a makeover to Aberdeen's Duthie Park, with the restoration of the original promenade, boating ponds and boundary wall.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant for the park, which was opened in 1883 by Princess Beatrice, came alongside hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of funding for parks on the outskirts of Glasgow and in Hawick.

A grant of 123,200 is being handed to Rouken Glen Park, Thornliebank, East Renfrewshire, a site previously used as a filming location for episodes of Rab C Nesbitt and cult Scottish films, such as Trainspotting and Shallow Grave.

There is also 100,000 for Wilton Lodge Park in Hawick, in the first round of 2m funding for improvements for each of the two parks.

Lottery fund executives announced the cash to help to "breathe new life" into Scotland's parks, by improving the sites to attract more visitors through park gates.

Under the Aberdeen scheme, a fountain and spiral pathway at the site will be restored to full working order, using the same design style from when the park was first opened during the late Victorian era.

There will also be new developments at Duthie Park, with the listed 1920s bowls pavilion being converted to provide office accommodation for ranger staff, along with a kitchen area for visiting groups, volunteers and trainees.

The park's unused tennis courts will also be converted into a horticulural training area, boasting a model allotment aimed at encouraging adults and children to try out their gardening skills.

Aberdeen City Council leader John Stewart: "This is excellent news and a tremendous boost for the city. It is great that, with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, we now have the opportunity to restore Duthie Park to its former Victorian glory.

"I look forward to witnessing the transformation of the park as the project progresses."

The scheme at Rouken Glen Park will involve creating a new exhibition space for some of the Neolithic and Bronze Age features there, such as a cup and ring marked rock.Work at Wilton Lodge Park will include rebuiling a lost bandstand, restoring a war memorial and opening an area for horticultural training and education programmes for the area's residents.

Colin McLean, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, said the grants were made to encourage more people to visit the nation's parks.

He said: "Our parks are a wonderful legacy from our ancestors which are enjoyed by all ages and are often a community's only available green space for recreation and leisure."