Shenley's Cage Pond has been given a major facelift as part of a project to make the village more attractive.

Volunteers have cleaned out the pond and planted more than 300 new plants and reeds, which will encourage wildlife and filter out polluted water.

Heidi Hutton, from the Countryside Management Service, said that the pond would take several years to mature, but would look far better when the new plants reached their full size.

"There is still some more planting to do later this year, but we got most of the work done last week," she said, adding: "Eventually it will look like it used to in the old days, with more colour and different species."

The pond needed to be cleaned out because large quantities of silt had built up, as a result of people feeding bread to the ducks over the years.

It was one of the areas of Shenley identified as needing improvement in the Parish Environmental Action Plan (PEAP), drawn up by the Countryside Management Service and Shenley Parish Council three years ago to secure funding for small environmental improvement projects.

The work was funded by the county council-operated Countryside Management Service, with extra cash provided by the National Lottery.

The Countryside Management Service will be planting new trees around Shenley this weekend. For information about volunteering, telephone the service on 020 8447 5466.Countryside Management Service volunteers at work clearing out Shenley's Cage Pond