Visitors to Keighley’s Airedale Centre can get a taste of the outdoors indoors with a Pop-up Park which opened in one of the shop units on Monday 5 December.

The park, complete with artificial grass, trees, plants, sculpture and furniture allows visitors to find out about the work going on up at Cliffe Castle.

The park is undergoing a major restoration funded by a £3.5 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Parks for the People programme made possible by support from National Lottery players.

The Pop-up park in the Airedale Centre is part of a consultation exercise by Bradford Council, Cliffe Castle Park Conservation Group and the HLF to find what type of events and activities the public would like to see happen at Cliffe Castle. It will also help to raise funds for the Cliffe Castle Park Conservation Group and boost the organisation’s profile.

There will be a chance to meet members of other local groups such as the Airedale RSPB, the Airedale Beekeeper’s Association, the Forest of Bradford and the Cellar Trust and Museum staff, all who play a role in the success of the park.

The event will also promote the HLF’s Yorkshire’s Back Garden campaign, and the Cliffe Castle Restoration Project. Yorkshire’s Back Garden is HLF’s campaign highlighting awareness of Yorkshire and the Humber’s beautiful landscapes and wildlife – and helping local people to connect with them. So far, HLF has granted more than £2.3million across many different projects for our Yorkshire’s Back Garden campaign, which promotes funding for natural heritage projects of all sizes across the region.

This includes 72 parks – which is the equivalent to 172,653 back gardens. The campaign encourages applications for funding from all champions of natural heritage, particularly small, local and community groups with projects that help raise awareness of the wildlife and nature to be found close to home.

Coun Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s executive member for Environment, Sport and Culture, said: “We hope people will enjoy a visit to the Pop-up park to discover what is going on and to add their own ideas to this exciting project.

“The Cliffe Castle park project will complement the recent restoration of the museum and will help to create a wonderful asset for Keighley and the rest of Bradford district. The Pop-up park will provide a great way for visitors to get a glimpse of the future.”

Drew Bennellick, head of Landscape and Natural Heritage at HLF, said: “Nature is everywhere but few have knowledge of the vital role nature plays in sustaining our lives. From microscopic beetles, to fungi, bats, bees, birds and mammals, all play a part in running our planet and we can’t survive without them.

“HLF grants offers a great opportunity to fund projects to re-connect people to nature and to explore this fascinating if often hidden world around us.”

The Pop-up park is open from Monday 5 December to Friday 10 December.