More than half-a-million pounds is set to be spent upgrading a popular park.

The children’s play area, car park and cafe are just some of the areas at Kearsney Abbey near Dover that will benefit from a £675,000 revamp.

Dover District Council (DDC) voted to release £525,000 of funding for the project from its special revenue projects budget in a cabinet meeting on Monday.

Another £150,000 was previously released for the upgrades at the Temple Ewell site, bringing the total allocated for the project to £675,000.

Included in the upgrades will be “extensive refurbishment” of the “heavily used play area”, which has not seen investment since 2008.

Councillors say £100,000 will be allocated to this so some pieces of play equipment can be replaced and new pieces added.

The authority hopes to “identify opportunities” for match funding to double this money so the play park can be extended further.

Elsewhere, the floor in the listed section of the cafe, which is suffering from dry rot, will be replaced.

The council hopes all of the works will be completed by summer 2026.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) previously supported a project at the site that was completed in 2021, with the park holding Green Flag status since.

On completion of the scheme, it was recommended that further work be carried out to ensure the attraction remained a high-quality space.

DDC says the visitors’ car park will also be upgraded so it has a stronger surface.

In the council officer’s report, it says the previous surface installed during the NLHF has “not proved sufficiently durable due to heavy use of the car park” and is breaking up in places.

Another project that could be included in the funding is the construction of a new timber boardwalk to provide year-round pedestrian access to Kearsney Abbey alongside the riverbank from the River entrance.

Currently, this path is impassable at certain times of the year when the water table is high.

Work could also be carried out in the pond in neighbouring Russell Gardens alongside structural investigation to the two bridges and boat house.