Watching my garden disappear :(

Oh No Gill ,how awful I could cry for you who ever 'they' are need to get to the bottom of the problem its terribly upsetting for you after all the hard work and expense you've put into your garden .. x I'm not going to click like because I don't like !!

I agree with everything Amy has said ... so disappointing to see this and hope the problem is resolved sooner rather than later.

oh, hell! so sorry to hear, Gee - and this is the time of year when rain can be expected on a regular basis!

Hope you succeed in getting the apporpriate authority to extract digit asap - will be easier for htem to fix a relatively small prob now than leave it and have a huge one to fix later, but it's hard to convince them of that sometimes.

my "like" is a gesture of comfort :-)

Amy took the words out of my mouth Gee. I wish people, companies or councils would take responsibility when they are at fault. They might not be able to do much immediately but at least an apology and the offer to sort out problems as soon as possible would go some way to diffusing situations. Do not let it spoil the festive season for you. Could your buildings insurance not help find out who is responsible. The local council must know who looks after the culvert on a day to day basis. There would not be so many people out of work if we still employed roadmen etc.

What a shame Gee after all the hard work and expense. Sending you and your neighbours round in circles trying to find who should clear this culvert. If you can't get it sorted very maybe try your MP before it gets too near to Xmas and they go to a warmer, drier place. I did this with a closed manhole cover that exuded toilet paper and other articles. It got cleared up fast after this contact.

OMG, Gee..
I hope the floods disappear soon.
You've worked so hard on your garden.

How terrible :( I hope the problem can be fixed soon. I think you should be compensated for this, especially after all the work you've done on the garden ...

So sorry Gee you must be devastated after all your hard work, I hope "they" solve the problem for you very soon....hug x

Thank you all for your lovely messages of support. The water has gone down completely now and I am just hoping it does not rain heavily anytime soon. I have contacted the chairmain of our parish council and hope he knows who we should deal with; have included photos so he can see the problem too. Very heavy frost overnight (but I did see a few 'shooting' stars) so the poor plants are being knocked from two directions. Hopefully they are resiliant enough to return in the spring/summer :)

That is awful for you and I hope that your parish council can act quickly and be able to help you.

I was so sorry to see this and I shall wish very hard that it does not happen again to you.

is it a stream, or brook, or overflow drain that's causing the problem?

there's a metoer shower over a few days, meant to look out for them last night but forgot. should be more tonight, if the sku's clear

Good job the murky water disapeared Gee or there would be a skating rink instead of your lovely new garden. There was a heavy hoar frost overnight here, everything white. I looked for shooting stars last night but saw none Fran. There were some a few years ago as the space dust went out with a bright flash overhead.

So sorry to see these photographs of your lovely garden, I hope you can get it sorted sooner rather than later, good luck.

Hi Fran, its an open drainage ditch which goes underground for a short stretch (under the road). Thanks again for all your support, really cheered me up :)

then it should belong to the local council, as it goes under their road, or the landowner, council or HA?

Oh no! I sympathise completely. I think I agree with Dorjac...skip the council and go directly to your MP.

good advice, Lori - with an election in the offing, they'll do something!

Sorry to see the problem you have. M.P's are a good place to start with problems like this. If not get on to the local radio or the newspaper to tell them the problem you have and perhaps they could make a contact with someone to get the problem sorted. (Isn't it the water companies problem?)

That´s a shame. I can understand how you feel. Recently, something similar happened to us, but we were not flooded by water, just mud. The representatives of the villages decided to build bicycle road in December and directly in front of our house. Insanity is the hallmark of those up.

Thank you all for your interest and concern. I have contacted two parish councillors but had no response yet! My neighbour contacted our local MP who said the initial approach should be to the parish council! He did say if they did not help to get back to him, so we will be doing that. Fortunately we haven't had much rain since so the water has gone for the moment.

Sorry, I would be very vulgar. This is typical attitute of our councillors. A citizen is just ping-pong ball. A good source of taxes. And a cheap labour.

is there any way you can block off the bottom of the garden to at least minimise future inursions while the authorities are playing ping-pong? it won't look elegant, but wouldn't look as bad as your photo

Added this to GoYpedia Flood and Rain damage.

Hello Gee19, so very sorry to see what has happened to your beautiful garden, after all your hard work this year. It is annoying when you indicate that no one will take responsibilty to prevent this from happening again. My only advice would be, if you do manage to get someone to take ownership, is to make sure they know that you are a member of an internatinal gardening club, and you share photographs and ideas, internationally on the internet. I would also be wanting to put a small portfolio of photos together from your GoY pictures to illustrate how nice your garden was, also indicate the time effort and expense, that it will take to restore your garden to its original condition. I am sure if a few of your neighbours do the same it may just add a bit of pressure to get "someone to do something". Wishing you good luck and I hope you get it resolved to your satisfaction.

Thanks, Alan. Severe problems here today after a night of rain (and continuing still!). My local councillor has tried to sort this out (and is the only one who bothered to reply) but apparently it is a fight between the borough council and the environmental agency over who is responsible. Not much help for us who are watching the water rise again. I have been taking photos and will certainly keep a log of everything. Fingers cross it will either be resolved or just stop raining :)

Get on the local radio and show them up Gee......

Just come in from clearing up the garden, Linda, sweeping off the layer of grime left on the paving slabs - thinking positive - it's good exercise! Several of us contacted different councillors yesterday and at least heard that they are looking into the problem. Delays have been caused by a bit of 'buck passing' by the sounds of it. We have discussed contacting radio/local newspapers too if nothing happens soon. No rain today so that is a positive too :)