Sissinghurst Castle Gardens

Case Study

Sissinghurst Castle Gardens

Earlier this year we worked on a project with South East Rivers Trust in partnership with the National Trust. The project involved the restoration of a floodplain meadow.

Specifically, it involved diverting peak flows of water from the Hammer stream through channels to a former water meadow. This project will increase the biodiversity as well as demonstrating natural flood management techniques.

A control structure was set up in the existing stream to control and divert higher water flows into a newly constructed off-take channel. Excavation work was carried out on the meadow to create a shallow floodplain scrape. The scrape will hold the water from heavy rain as well as water that is being diverted from the stream.

This was a natural flood management project to ‘re-wet’ and restore a historic floodplain to provide a dynamic resource for wildlife. This field is aptly named Frogmead and the hope is that the re-wetting will encourage frogs to return to the area as well as encouraging wetland birds and dragonflies.

The works undertaken included channel works and excavator works. The project was undertaken with funding from the EU Interreg North Sea FRAMES project, Defra and the Environment Agency.