A historic mining site in Troon is celebrating the opening of a new community nature trail, thanks to the help of local families and a local artist.

The King Edward Mine Nature Trail was officially opened on Saturday, where the new installation was unveiled, marking the start to the new trail for visitors and families to enjoy.

The project has been funded by FEAST and Cornwall Museums Partnership with additional support from Cornwall Heritage Trust.

The new tile collage is made up of castings of vegetation and industrial artefacts collected around the site, and was created by over 50 local children and adults. Through creative workshops, local families were also given the opportunity to discover more about the history of King Edward Mine and the plants that grow around the historic site.

The project has been led by local artist Lou King, who collected cuttings from around the site with children and parents to then press their findings into clay, before making ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ casts and forming them into one larger panel.

Lou said: “This project has been a fantastic opportunity to see local families create their own pieces of art work for the King Edward site. Walking around the trail, they really connected with the surrounding flora, which in turn lead them to understand to the history of the site.

"The communities beautiful work has collectively become one piece, reflecting how much the site has regenerated to become a wealth of biodiversity.”

The new trail will give families and visitors the opportunity to discover different plants and flowers that are on the King Edward Mine site. The new installation entitled Transformation has been created thanks to the Bright Sparks funding. Rose Barnecut, director of FEAST, said: “We are delighted to support such a project, that enables artists to work within their communities and create new works in collaboration with Cornwall’s museums.

"The new nature trail will be a welcome addition to what is already a site that is rich in history, culture and learning experiences for all ages.”

The new nature trail is free for all to enjoy. The start of the trail and the new installation can be found at the café at King Edward Mine, The Croust Hut. For more information visit kingedwardmine.co.uk.