NI beauty spot Broughshane named ‘UK village of the Year’

Broughshane in Co Antrim has been named Channel 4’s ‘UK Village of the Year’.

The beauty spot outside Ballymena was announced as the winner in the show broadcast at the weekend. It beat competition from hundreds of other villages across Britain for the title.

“We’re absolutely delighted, over the moon, this certainly is one of the top accolades that we have won, and special because it moves us away from just a concentration on plants and flowers to the wider community spirit and I think that has made it special this time,” Lexie Scott from Broughshane Community Association said.

“When we looked at the other villages and saw what the competition was like, we were a little bit taken aback just at how steep the competition was going to be particularly when you look at their built heritage.”

The judges were swayed by the village's floral displays, agricultural background and tight knit community. Nearly two-thirds of Broughshane's residents are volunteers.

“We have the people and we have all the different groups, and if you saw the parade on Saturday night you would see that they were all out enjoying themselves and very proud of their village.”

A £10,000 prize is to be spent on a community project. There are also hopes Broughshane's new accolade will boost tourism.