Celebrations mark completion of first phase of Restoring Stover Park Project

A celebration has been held at Stover Country Park near Newton Abbot today (Friday 15 November) to mark the completion of the first phase of improvements made through the Restoring Stover Park Project.

Invited guests attended the event to officially unveil a number of the Restoring Stover Park Project schemes which have been made possible thanks to a grant of £2,084,600 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, together with National Highways, Devon County Council, Devon Remembers, Teignbridge District Council, Bovey Tracey Town Council, Kingsteignton Town Council, and Friends of Stover Park.

The visitor centre, which has been extended and upgraded, was formally opened, along with a newly built community workshop, which will be available for use by Stover Country Park volunteers and community groups.

A photographic exhibition created by volunteers from Newton Abbot Photographic Club was on display in the visitor centre to show the progress of the Restoring Stover Park Project to date.

In addition, guests enjoyed watching the premier showing of the new ‘Tribes N’ Vibes’ short film produced in partnership between Red Herring Productions, St Catherine’s Primary School and Stover Country Park.

During the launch guests also explored the conservation work which has been carried out on the historic Grade II* listed Gatehouse as well as learning about the de-silting project at Stover Lake.

Both of these elements of the initiative were backed by National Highways’ Environment and Wellbeing Funding, and significant funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

This is the second phase of the environmental and biodiversity work within the Site of Special Scientific Interest funded by National Highways. In 2019, it installed a giant reedbed filtration system to help capture and filter water run-off from the A38 which has improved water quality and enhanced habitats within the Nature Reserve. It’s hoped the initiative will see white water-lilies return to the lake.