AN old allotment site is to be turned into a village's peaceful green haven.

The group of 20 overgrown former allotment plots have blighted an area of Bowburn, near Durham, in recent years.

But following a fundraising drive spearheaded by Cassop-cum-Quarrington Parish Council, work is about to start in the bid to create a community green space in the heart of the former pit village.

Several community cash awards have been won by the parish council to back up the main funding, from the Countryside Agency's Doorstep Green grant scheme.

Parish council chairwoman Maggie Robinson said the allotments had long since become derelict when the council bought them several years ago from the Coal Authority.

She said: "We've worked in a partnership with the community to make suggestions over how we could transform the area.

"It's going to become an attractive green area for use by the community, where people can take a nice walk, or just have a quiet sit down in pleasant surroundings.

"When the parish bought the allotments site, it was derelict.

"People didn't want the allotments because they couldn't put greenhouses up there.

"It was really ramshackle and yet in a few months, once the ground work has been done, it's going to start to take shape and really bear fruit."

The Bowburn scheme is one of 28 projects being supported in the North-East through the Countryside Agency, backed by National Lottery support from the New Opportunities Fund.

All the successful Doorstep Green applicants are supported through the life of the project by a team of skilled advisors, who provide help for the communities involved on legal issues, project management, fundraising and partnership development.