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In the southeast, where part of a lake is National Trust (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

kent

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'where part of a lake is national trust' is the definition.
The answer is a location as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.

'in the southeast' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ken' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for kent that I've seen before include "County of SE England" , "known to Scots" , "County, garden of England" , "South-eastern county" , "Garden of England - Superman's family name" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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