Natural and historic landscapes

The Quadrangle Forest Garden: a community permaculture project

The Quadrangle Forest Garden project transformed a degraded field near Shoreham and the River Darent into a thriving permaculture-based forest garden. This educational and therapeutic landscape is designed to benefit both the local community and visitors. By enhancing soil quality and biodiversity, the project also improves water retention and reduces flooding risks, addressing key climate change challenges like food security and biodiversity loss. 

Key Highlights 

• Permaculture principles used to regenerate land. 

• Improves biodiversity and soil quality. 

• Reduces flood risks and supports climate resilience. 

• Serves as a community resource and educational space. 

Restoring Preston Hill Country Park

The Preston Hill restoration project focuses on conserving and enhancing its chalk grassland, woodland, and military heritage, making the site more accessible while preserving its natural and historical significance. 

Key Highlights 

• Restored and protected its SSSI-designated chalk grassland and wildlife 

• Installed new fences, gates, and a circular waymarked route for easier access 

• Addedon-site interpretation boards and a visitor leaflet to share the park’s history 

• Conserved remains of a Victorian-era rifle range used by the Army Reserves 

• Introduced goats for natural scrub management to maintain the grassland 

• Enhanced access for both local communities and visitors 

Temple Hill: new forest school and community greenspace

The Enchanted Woodland project aimed to create a forest school location and enhanced a community greenspace for the Temple Hill community in Dartford. The project also highlighted the site’s connection to Joyce Green Hospital and the Dartford Marshes, involving collaboration with local schools and community partners. 

Key Highlights 

• Creation of a forest school site in partnership with Temple Hill Primary Academy. 

• Volunteer efforts by NWKCP to manage the land, including scrub control and creating a natural seating area for educational use. 

• Development of a circular trail for site exploration and fencing replacements. 

• Successful community engagement through events like Woodland Craft and Folklore where families explored local history and crafted woodland sprites. 

Chalk grassland and woodland habitats improvements 

The Jewels in the Downs project aimed to enhance the connectivity and quality of chalk grassland and woodland habitats in the Darent Valley. The project focused on improving biodiversity and managing these habitats to encourage nature’s long-term flourishing. 

Key Highlights 

• Enhanced connectivity and quality of habitats in Kent Wildlife Trust managed sites in the Darent Triangle Living Landscape area. 

• Completed fencing work at Fackenden Meadow and Polhill, enabling grazing for better long-term management. 

• Volunteers completed scrub clearance on several sites, and rare Kentish Milkwort was introduced in collaboration with Kew Gardens. 

• Ongoing fencing work at Kemsing Down to facilitate grazing management. 

• Improvements made in biodiversity, access, management, and interpretation, while considering water supply impacts on the River Darent. 

Restoring the Hedgerow Mosaic 

The Restoring the Hedgerow Mosaic project focused on revitalizing the hedgerow network within the Darent Valley, enhancing its landscape character and ecological value. A team of volunteer surveyors, trained by the North West Kent Countryside Partnership, assessed both the current and historical hedgerow networks. This allowed for targeted management advice, support for existing hedgerows, and the planting of new hedgerows where needed. As part of the project, nearly 1.32km of new hedgerows and over 66,000 new trees were planted to restore the hedgerow mosaic across the valley. 

Key Highlights 

• Recruitment and training of volunteer hedgerow surveyors. 

• 1.3 kilometres of new hedgerows have been newly planted or restored 

• 6,000 new trees planted across the valley. 

• Detailed analysis of the hedgerow network to support future management and planting efforts. 

Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve improvements 

The Designing Nature project at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve engaged local pupils in a participatory design process, working alongside conservationists, architects, and designers. The project aimed to increase awareness of biodiversity and enhance community understanding of local wildlife through hands-on design workshops and site visits. 

Pupils conceptualized a structure for the reserve, which would serve as an iconic interpretation, observation, and discovery hub. The design concepts were showcased at an exhibition at the reserve, providing an opportunity for the community to see the proposed designs and their connection to the reserve’s conservation efforts. 

Key Highlights 

• Increased understanding of local wildlife and biodiversity through participatory design workshops. 

• Collaborative design concepts developed by pupils in partnership with conservationists and designers. 

• Exhibition of design concepts to the public, promoting community engagement and environmental awareness 

River Darent restoration and resilience  

The Where Ten Thousand Fishes Once Played project aimed to restore the River Darent, enhance biodiversity, protect heritage features, and increase the river’s resilience to climate change, including addressing low flows and extreme flood events. 

Key Highlights 

• Focus on building resilience to low flows and flood events. 

• Implementation of Natural Flood Management measures, including installation of run-off attenuation features, creation of extra water retention capacity and adaptation of river structures to enhance fish passage and aquatic habitat connectivity 

• Enhancement of biodiversity and protection of heritage features along the river. 

• Collaborative work with partners across the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands to share best practices. 

• Active engagement with local stakeholders and landowners to develop new land management solutions. 

Landscape Heritage Grants 

The Landscape and Heritage Grants programme offered funding opportunities for exciting projects aimed at caring for, exploring, enjoying, learning about, and celebrating the landscape and heritage of the Darent Valley. The grants were designed to support the local community in delivering small-scale projects that aligned with the goals of the Darent Valley Landscape Partnership Scheme.

Key Highlights

• Opened for applications for community-driven projects.

• Funded initiatives that contributed to the conservation and celebration of the Darent Valley’s landscape and heritage.

• Provided funding for small-scale projects throughout the scheme’s duration.

• Small grants of between £1,000 and £15,000 were available.

• Projects funded include:

  • Shoreham Church Audio Tour

  • ReliumX Records – Music inspired by the Darent Valley Landscape

  • Footpath information signs at Castle Farm

  • Bees and Refugees

  • Quadrangle

  • Eynsford Green Week