Clare Lake Restoration Project East Malling

Clare Lake is set in the historic former grounds of Grade I Clare House – and is now in the grounds of The Malling School

The area around the Lake is a much valued accessible open space enjoyed by East Malling residents who have been helping with a programme of restoration and improvement.

A key first step was to improve water quality.

• Non-native fish removed by Hadlow College students
• Lake de-silted
• Ultrasonic device installed to
  control algae. The change in the quality of the water can be seen in the gallery 

MVCP also helped to install some floating reed beds and a pond-dipping platform for the school’s use

The Meadow and Blacklands Footpath

• Some trees felled to open
  up the site
• Hibernaculum created
• ‘Blacklands Wall’ removed

Volunteer Activity

Volunteers have met regularly since 2016 for community tidy-ups, helping with:

• Removal of rubble from Blacklands path in readiness for tree planting
• Litter picking
• Vegetation clearance

Tree planting March 2017

• Native hedge planted along the Blacklands path to soften the metal school fence
• Very well done to the Scouts who worked incredibly hard for about 4 hours, almost non-stop!

Wildflower Meadow

We have ambitions to establish a wildflower meadow on the site. First efforts were not successful but we’ll keep trying!

Ongoing work

• Clearing vegetation, particularly where it threatens to strangle new plants and hide the historic ragstone wall 
• Mowing meandering paths through the meadow to provide access
• generally caring for this precious space

A great many people and organisations have been involved – thanks to them all

Blacklands & Larkfield Scouts/Cubs/Beavers
East Malling & Larkfield Parish Council
East Malling Conservation Group
Groundwork
KCC Community Warden
Local Councillors
Local residents /volunteers
Malling Action Partnership
Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council
Veolia