The Tong Farm Restoration Project

Time to read:: 5 minutes

Image of open countryside in autumn on a sunny day with the leaves changing colour to autumn reds — Tong Farm grazing land | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

We are pleased to share that we have secured funding through the national Trees for Climate programme, working with Thames Chase Community Forests, to restore and enhance Tong Farm. Our aim is to maintain a farmed landscape that is of greater benefit to our local wildlife whilst also improving access.

9 January 2026

Latest update

Draining Flushers Pond and clearing fencelines

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Project Summary

The work includes:

10 benches will be installed across the farm to allow you to sit awhile and enjoy this piece of countryside that we all cherish.
A total of 16,000 trees will be planted to vastly improve the field edge habitat and provide nectar and food for invertebrates, birds and small mammals.
9600 trees will make up 1.5 kilometres of mixed native hedgerows and a further 5000 trees planted in enclosures.
A final 100 trees will be planted across the farm to create more of an open wood pasture habitat, whilst retaining key viewpoints across the landscape. As these trees mature, they will provide a home for wildlife as well as shade for livestock.
Installing and planting fenced enclosures with dense scrubby tree species in the lower fields to increase species diversity and provide valuable habitat for scrub-reliant species.
Flushers Pond will be drained early in January so it can be mechanically desilted. An appropriate outflow system will also be installed to allow the duck weed to be skimmed off and a filtration pond dug out, before being refilled in time for the amphibians to return in early spring.
Replacing 8 kilometres of dilapidated stock fencing and installing water troughs in all fields to allow us to graze all farm fields.
The sections of the brook that runs through the farm fields will see considerable reprofiling of its banks to slow the flow of water and create marginal wetland areas along the lower fields.

The livestock will be taken off-site prior to works commencing and will return once fields are fenced.

Image of a large pond on a sunny day with a fallen tree trunk in the centre and birds nearby — Flushers Pond | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

More information

As work progresses we will update this page with further information on our progress and the areas where we will be working. If you are visiting the site, please look out for our poster boards that will also have up-to-date information about the work and any effects this may have on access.

In the intial stages of the project our contractors will be using some heavy machinery and may require a few areas to be temporarily fenced off. Your safety and enjoyment are very important to us and our contractors, so please observe all signs and directions given by the team and on the posters. We aim to minimise the effects of our work and will do all we can to reduce noise and disruption.

We'll keep as many paths and spaces open as we possibly can. Please be aware that some of the paths may become more muddy than usual and therefore may be slippery in places. We will also put any important information for visitors on the website - we suggest you bookmark this page.

Thank you for your understanding.

Blog

Throughout the project we'll be keeping a blog on this page, which will showcase the work we are doing and the progress made.

The Tong Farm Project Blog

9 January 2026

Draining Flushers Pond and clearing fencelines

Work started on Tong Farm on Monday, 5 January with the removal of the old outflow system at Flusher’s pond. The two inlets have also been diverted to bypass the pond to allow it to drain sufficiently so that the silt can be dredged out towards the end of January.

As one of the inlets to Flusher’s pond comes from road run-off and through back gardens, the defunct filtration pond will be re-dug and planted with common reed to reduce the number of pollutants running into the pond from this source. High levels of nutrients and pollutants is evidenced by the blanket of duckweed that covers the pond each year. Removing the build-up of silt from the pond will also contribute to bringing nutrient levels down to create a much healthier, biodiverse pond in the long-term.

The old fences from Coopers field have been removed and the new fencelines are currently being installed. The fencing stakes are made from sweet chestnut, grown locally in North Kent. As well as being locally sourced they are much more robust and longer lasting than softwood posts.

Image of water draining from a weed-covered pond after an excavator removed the old outflow system on a sunny day with the excavator bucket alongside the outflow — Draining Flusher's pond | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of an excavator removing an old fence and scrub along the edge of a field, prior to a new fence being erected, on a sunny day with some snow on the ground — Fencelines being removed and tidied prior to new fencing being installed | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Acknowledgement

We would like to express our grateful and heartfelt thanks to Thames Chase Community Forests (part of England's Community Forests network) for their very generous grant, without which the Tong Farm Project could not start. You can read more about Thames Chase in our partner panel below and on the Thames Chase website.

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Email

Email address for more information about our project

pettswood@nationaltrust.org.uk

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01304 202756

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This project is supported by Thames Chase Community Forest, part of England's Community Forests network. Our Vision: By 2030, Thames Chase Community Forest will be recognised as an inspirational example of landscape regeneration where enhanced, connected woodland and green space has made a clear difference to wildlife and peoples’ lives.

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