A coastal park and its once-prominent cafe look set to finally return to their former glory this summer.

Barton’s Point, a 40-acre saltwater lake between Minster and Sheerness on Sheppey, has been used for activities such as kite flying, orienteering and water sports for more than five decades.

It featured The Boathouse Cafe – a small watering hole which also provided fishing permits for anglers wishing to use the lake.

However, both the park and cafe have been without an operator since a 10-year concession with the previous boss, Mandy Shade, ended in December 2022.

The cafe stopped trading immediately when its licence was not renewed.

Although a new manager looked to be on the cards last year, nothing more happened – leaving the cafe closed and sparking concerns it would never reopen.

However, Swale council has now confirmed it has chosen a new operator to take over the running of the park.

A spokesman for the authority explained: "Plans for the future of Barton’s Point Coastal Park are taking shape.

"Swale council ran an exercise for potential operators to submit their ideas for what could potentially improve the country park for local people and visitors from further afield.

"Seventeen leisure operators expressed their interest in coming to the site and, after a careful selection process, the council’s picked a preferred operator.

"We are currently working with them on more detailed plans for the site, which need to balance its ecological and historical richness with any final designs."

The decision means there is an opportunity for temporary catering operators to take over the running of The Boathouse Cafe this summer.

The temporary deal will end when the whole site operator takes over.

Chairwoman of Swale council’s regeneration and property committee, Cllr Monique Bonney, believes the park's new direction will allow it to provide Sheppey with an attractive, long-term destination.

The Swale Independents' Alliance (SIA) representative for West Downs ward said: "We have been working behind the scenes with an operator to create plans for the park that most closely meet our ambitions for the site.

“As owners of the park, we are its custodians and must make sure any scheme we implement does not harm the site's important ecology or history.

“We have commissioned ecology work, including bird studies, [and] we need the results before we can make a final decision on whether the scheme we’d like to bring here would work.

“In the shorter term, there is an opportunity for temporary catering operators this summer.

“We know people really value the park, and we want to make sure it continues to thrive for years to come.”

Speaking last summer about its potential, Cllr Elliott Jayes (SIA, Sheppey Central) said: "Reopening and improving it will make the area a better destination, not just for locals, but for tourists as well, especially with the cafe already being so popular when it was last here.”

The park underwent a huge revamp in the form of two bridges, a new toilet block and five benches in July.

Visitors had been without a toilet block since the previous facilities were knocked down in 2022.

The refurbishments cost Swale council a total of £158,056.

The majority of this was spent on the new block, which cost £140,703 after being rebuilt from scratch.

A further £11,654 was spent on two wooden bridges, plus another £5,699 towards five new picnic benches.

Barton’s Point won an £85,000 government grant as part of the Levelling Up Parks fund more than a year ago – money which was also used to regenerate the entrance to the car park.

However, it has been blighted by vandalism since.

The new toilet block was targeted twice, and some carved sculptures were pushed into the lake last year.