THE OTHONA Coastal Park officially opened on Thursday, June 2.

The park, on East End Road, Bradwell-on-sea, is somewhere children can learn about the environment.

The new look park took nine months to build.

The official ribbon cutting ceremony was followed by a session of pond dipping and a BBQ.

It was designed by Angenita Hardy-Teekens, who said she was delighted with the turnout at the official opening.

She said: “It was absolutely fantastic to see everyone down here for the opening.

“There were lots of people in attendance and it was really pleasing to see.

“Hopefully we will have lots of children make use of the park and we can educate them about the environmental sciences.”

The educational side of the park is very important to Angenita.

Thursday’s opening was geared towards teaching the children about nature.

“It is a unique site,” said Angenita. “We want to preserve that for the next generation.”

“We had marine biologist, Malcolm Hardy, come down and he was explaining to the children what they were finding when they were pond dipping.

“If you want to build in nature you have to take away a lot of plants and trees.

“To make up for that we got the children to plant a few climbers.

“What was great to hear was that they all said they wanted to come back in half a year and see how much they have grown.

“That is exactly what we are hoping to achieve here.”

“It is not just for children though, it is a facility for the whole of Essex.”