The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority has been celebrating a surprise early Christmas present after being awarded one quarter of a million pounds in Big Lottery funding.

The authority's project, Your Park, Your Future, will receive £249,864 in the latest round of the Big Lottery Fund's (BIG) People and Places programme, announced last week.

Over three years, the project will set up a programme of activities to promote the use of the National Park, particularly to people who face barriers to accessing the natural outdoors.

National Park Authority head of discovery, Phil Roach, is delighted at the news. He said: "I think the project has great potential to support and develop our work and I am pleased that the BIG grant panel agreed.

"The National Park Authority has always run an outreach programme to encourage people to make the most of the fantastic natural playground and classroom that is the National Park.

"In recent years we have extended the programme to enable people who traditionally haven't had easy access to the natural environment to enjoy the world class opportunities on offer here. Barriers such as disability, poor health, financial hardship or even just being a young person can prevent people from getting out there, and we have worked with a wide range of organisations supporting local people to improve their lives.

"This funding will allow us to further tailor our work to ensure that people of all ages and from all backgrounds right across Pembrokeshire will be able to access and benefit from the special qualities of the National Park.

"There is increasing evidence that spending time in the natural outdoors - especially in somewhere as beautiful as the National Park - can improve your health and wellbeing and bring personal and developmental benefits too. So this funding is not just great news for us, it's great news for Pembrokeshire people."

In addition to its well established education programme for schools, the Park Authority currently runs events for groups, including bushcraft, wildlife watching, play, art and craft and much more.

An increasing number of groups are seeing the benefit of using the natural outdoors to achieve their aims, and keeping the National Park a special place by doing conservation work.

Many participants have also achieved a John Muir Award which gives recognition to their effort, and enthusiasm for wild places like the National Park.

Work on the Your Park, Your Future project will begin in the New Year. To find out more about the National Park and the work of the Park Authority and its Discovery Team, log onto http://www.pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk">www.pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk .