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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: Stormont Estate

Stormont Estate

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Stormont Estate

Helen Mark finds out how the public and politicians in Northern Ireland share a parkland.

Stormont, the home of Northern Ireland's government, is not just about politics. It's also a magnificent park enjoyed by thousands of visitors. Helen Mark explores its attractions

Stormont's parliament buildings, on the outskirts of Belfast, often features in the national news as the focus of raucous political debates and protests.  But the building is also set in the middle of several hundred acres of magnificent parkland.  Most of it was closed to the public at the height of the Troubles, but from the late 1990s, as the peace process developed, it has become a treasured public space.   

In the past twenty years, the Stormont Estate has developed its woodland and added environmental trails and wetland areas as well as an outdoor fitness gym, running paths and a large play park.  It's now one of Northern Ireland's most popular outdoor parks and is also used regularly as a venue for charity and public events.  It has been a particularly important fresh air 'escape' for local people during the Covid lockdowns.

Helen Mark talks to Stormont's Head of Estate, Nigel Bonar, about the challenges of looking after a parkland which is also a workplace for politicians and three thousand civil servants.  Author Jack Gallagher remembers the excitement of visiting Stormont as a child of the 40s and describes the contrast  between its green open spaces and the grey blitz-damaged streets where he lived.  We hear about some of the significant moments in Stormont's history and former politician, Monica McWilliams, pays tribute to the late Mo Mowlam who was instrumental in opening up the park to the public when she was Secretary of State during the peace process negotiations in the mid-1990s.  Her lasting legacy on the Stormont Estate is the 'Mo Park', the play park enjoyed by thousands of children every week.

Producer: Kathleen Carragher

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