Bee (draws back curtains);
"er Al think you had better see the canal"
Al (thinking);
Not getting out of bed as Bee usually exaggerates.
Bee;
"AL GET OUT OF BED AND LOOK AT THE CANAL!"
Al (looks out of the window);
"ok I'm awake"
We had been greeted by the sight of the accumulation of days of rain nudging towards to top of the canal walls and backing up from the river to the back of the mill. Flood alert. Slightly more calmly than in January the sluice gates were opened wide (the one at the house had been repaired since the flooding in Jan - phew). Vehicles and borrowed items were moved to the highest ground and electric fencing turned off. Below you can just make out the top of the gateposts on the bridge - under a metre of water and impassable.
The water rose to within 20cm of the driveway from where the photo below was taken,
The sheep/donkey field flooded....
... so they were all herded into the garden (farewell kiwis and all other shrubbery). It occurred to us the life-ring would probably fit around the donkeys' necks if necessary!
The sheep shared the garden nicely with the kids although seemed rather bemused by the trampoline but fortunately didn't try to eat it (or have a bounce).
The garden shrank in size as the lake beyond burst its banks and crept up the garden towards the house. The lake normally starts a metre beyond the fence behind the swings and slide.
The ducklings however were very happy with the rising water all around them, albeit confined to the paddling pool as their wings have been clipped so they couldn't fly out of the enclosure to a watery paradise.
Rosie the sow was due to be collected from her minibreak with the boar but her pen was under 50cm of water so she has been granted an extension to her holiday.
The veg patch field and polytunnel were under at least 50cm of water from the ditches flooded by neighbouring valleys - we could only see the field beans and wheat - everything else was under water.
The wild ducks were blissfully swimming across the fruit patch. The poor strawberries!
The solar panels had seen so little sun in May it didn't seem to matter their feet got wet.
In the afternoon, when all equipment and animals were safe, we had a reflective moment over a game of Swingball but were rather embarrassed when the fire brigade arrived mid-game to see if we were ok! They wanted to check we had opened all the sluice gates and to warn us the levels would rise again if the dam upstream had to release more floodwater.
It's now Sunday evening and the water has subsided although the sluice gates are still open as the river levels remain high. At least the garden has been fertilised by the sheep and donkeys (that was a mammoth pooper-scooping session) and the lawn won't need mowing for a while. The kids got a day off school last Friday as the roads were flooded so no complaints there. We will just have to wait until tomorrow to conduct a damage assessment of the veg patch to see what has survived the flood.
Sammy and Lucy haltered-up in case evacuation is required! Donkeys don't do wet hooves...
