Clare Lake (or Millpond as some prefer to call it as East Malling's Lower Mill was set here, at the northern end) is set in the historic former parkland of Grade I Clare House, a neo-classical villa built by John Larking in 1793 who bought several hundred acres from Sir Roger Twisden of Bradbourne House. Most of the remaining parkland of Clare House is now within the grounds of The Malling School and we are incredibly fortunate as a community to have public access to the Lake area. 
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Volunteers have been working with the School over several years to restore and improve the Lake and meadow – and even won an Environmental Champions Award in 2017 from Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council and Veolia for their efforts! 
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You can see from the first several photos in the slideshow below what we were faced with when we first started.  Substantial tree work had taken place and the site was looking rather forlorn. It needed a helping hand in more ways than one. 
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In terms of the Lake itself, an important early step in the restoration process was to improve water quality and to do this the Lake was de-silted and non-native fish were removed.  An electric current was passed through the water which ‘stunned’ the fish, causing them to rise to the surface.  Many of the fish showed signs of disease but those that were well enough were rehomed.   Measures have been taken since then to try to control the growth and spread of algae although this does return to some degree in the height of summer.  Floating reed beds have been installed together with a pond dipping platform for the School’s use.  A ‘hibernaculum’ – a sort of ‘bug hotel’ – has been constructed along the top of the ragstone wall to help improve biodiversity, and the hideous ‘Blacklands Wall’ is no more.  
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Community volunteers have been meeting regularly since 2016 to help with community tidy-ups.  Early on, this work included the removal of what seemed like a life-time of rubbish and rubble from the Blacklands path, which had accumulated behind the wall, in readiness for the planting of a native hedge alongside the school fence.  This has established itself well and will continue to develop until, we hope, the fence will be barely visible.  We continue to remove unwanted weeds and vegetation along this bank and add new flowering plants including Primroses and Daffodils for an early show, and Welsh Poppies, Forget-Me-Nots and some Nigella Love-in-the Mist for some follow-on colour.  Many of the seeds were provided by one of our volunteers who has now sadly passed away. He also did our mowing, transforming the area adjacent to the Lake from a path that became very narrow and overgrown in summer to an area that was more open and easier to walk and from where the Lake could be more easily appreciated - but all the time maintaining the balance of what was tended and what was left uncut.   Throughout the meadow area he created some meandering paths to provide access to what was previously a fairly inaccessible area - these were invaluable during lockdown and allowed people to move through and around the site while maintaining a distance.  
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There was a time when we first started when the historic ragstone wall alongside the Blacklands path was barely visible and volunteers have done well so far to uncover it and keep the ivy largely at bay.  Parts of the wall, particularly at the northern end where it trails away to nothing, have fallen into disrepair and we would like to investigate how this might be restored as part of a future phase of work.

I hope you agree that in the time the volunteers have been working the area has been transformed and is looking so much better, as shown in the later photographs in the slideshow.  The beauty is that the area changes constantly so there is always something different to see, experience and enjoy whether you visit in winter, spring, summer or autumn.  
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We want to go on caring for this precious space – but we need your help and by that we mean a little bit of your time.  You don’t need any experience – we usually have an ‘expert’ on hand to help distinguish between which plants to keep and which to dig out.  If gardening isn’t your thing but you hate to see litter we always have a supply of litter picking equipment with us – and children are welcome provided they are supervised by a responsible adult.
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Our volunteer sessions currently take place on the first Saturday of the month (April to October) starting at 10am and finishing by noon.
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If this is an area you have enjoyed on your daily exercise, or if you want to discover it for the first time and do some volunteering outdoors in pleasant surroundings, please think about coming along to future volunteer events so that we can keep the area looking it’s best for all to enjoy. To find out more please get in touch using the contact details below, including if you would like to be added to our email list so that you can receive direct messages about volunteer litter picking mornings or other Clare Lake updates.
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And a final word – there is so much wildlife at the Lake – the swans are an obvious favourite, but have you spotted the Heron or the Kingfisher?  Have you seen Water Voles?  Moths, butterflies or unusual creepy crawlies? Or perhaps you’re an expert on identifying trees, flora and fauna?  We are asking people to become ‘Clare Lake Nature Watchers’ and to record what they see.  We will be producing some sheets which we can email out but you could just as easily jot down what you see in a notebook.  Let us know every so often what you’ve spotted so that we can keep a track or how the area is developing from a wildlife and nature point of view.  If you’d like to take photos that would be great too.  Any details can be sent through to me by email.
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Michelle Tatton – Borough Councillor for East Malling and Clare Lake Volunteer Co-ordinator  
01732 521889 / 07715 957310  michelle.tatton@aol.com