Lisa's family, who live half way around the world from us, have heard the news that there are major floods here in the West of England, and wrote to ask if we are effected / all right. I'm quoting from Lisa's reply here ...

We've been in an enviable oasis, both the house and the hotel. Some rain, yes. But not more than "normal". The problem is that it's been pretty steady this summer, so the ground's pretty saturated. It's been the rivers that have been swelling, and we're not that close by to them.

Today was gloriously sunny, and most of the affected areas are starting to gain their ground back. It was very hard to take it in that just the other side of town had roads closed and vehicles abandoned. We didn't have to go out of town, so we ourselves saw very little of it. But hotel guests coming to stay reported that their drive, one that should have taken three hours, took ten...and this, along with with television reports, had us seeing the news right along with you...affecting people way far away. But truth is, there was massive flooding as close as two miles from us and the worst areas were just an hour away. We were quite lucky.

On a very local / specific note, the buildings have not seriously been effected. Some of the big bay windows at home in our 1813 house have a design weekness that lets water in when it rains heavily and blows in a certain direction, but I've seen no problem there. And a temporary tarpaulin over the larder at Well House Manor - and outbuilding that's at the end of our "refurb" list - held well. The lights which are inset into the ground and gave us a great deal of trouble over the winter stood up well, in spite of being covered by several inches of water at one time. Mind you, they're now swimming pool lights - so they damned well should have stood up!

The local paper

My pictures from a previous flood
(written 2007-07-25, updated 2007-07-26)

 M160 - Well House Manor - Environmental
  [1499] Climate change, renewable resources and paper v plastic - (2008-01-09)
  [1800] Spiders Web - (2008-09-17)
  [2253] Walks in and around Melksham, Wiltshire - (2009-06-21)
  [2707] A walk on the Kennet and Avon - (2010-04-04)
  [2730] Bird Watching on the Melksham Avon - (2010-04-18)
  [2762] Well House - Mission and Policy summaries - (2010-05-13)
  [2794] The Farming Industry pictured around Melksham - (2010-06-04)
  [3134] Melksham Weather - Warm and windy becoming colder and calmer - (2011-01-15)
  [3863] Five new fans at Well House Manor - (2012-09-17)

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West Wilts - no longer Wet Wilts - show
The Gdansk fireball
West Wilts Show
AgtInvoke - a command to drive Agilent Tcl software extensions
On flooding in Wiltshire and elsewhere in the West of England
Incident in Melksham
Radio coverage for railway issues
Melksham or Weymouth? Meal or day out?
Behind closed doors?
Till the cows come home