Suffolk's Stonham Barns Park opens a third fishing lake for carp anglers

Stonham Barns Park, near Debenham in Suffolk, has opened a third fishing lake, this one built specifically for carp anglers. It's 13 feet deep with three islands, marginal shelves, lily pads and willow trees worked into the layout, which gives a decent spread of swim types rather than one uniform bowl of water.

The new lake has gone in stocked with 90 specimen mirror carp plus some common carp. That sits alongside the park's existing two silver fish lakes, which already hold a mixture of carp, tench and bream up to 25lb, so the venue now covers both a dedicated big-carp water and more general mixed coarse fishing on the same site.

For anyone planning a longer session, there are five fully furnished lodges for hire, each sleeping up to four people with heating, electricity, beds and decking giving direct lake access. That's a meaningful step up from a standard bivvy session if you're fishing over a weekend, especially heading into the colder months.

Ryan Inskip, who runs the carp fishing side of the park, says competitions are planned once the swim construction is finished, and match angling legend Bob Nudd MBE is an ambassador for the venue. Worth a look if you're after a new water within reach of Ipswich or the wider Suffolk coast.