Wiltshire opens England's first village-wide rain garden

Great Bedwyn, just outside of Marlborough, has a long history of flooding events which have repeatedly swept through the town over the past 20 years.

In the last three years alone, the village's sewage treatment work has been overwhelmed 128 times, meaning 926 hours of sewage dumped into the canal and carried into the River Dun.

That's exactly why locals were thrilled to welcome The Great Bedwyn School Rain Garden which was officially opened by Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Wiltshire, Ninna Gibson, on Sunday, June 16, to help increase flood protection.

Although rain gardens have been tried and tested in other areas of the country, the Great Bedwyn project is the first of its kind in England to work with individual homeowners to spread the gardens around the entire village.

The project was opened by Ninna Gibson, Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Wiltshire (Image: ARK)

The project has been led by rivers charity Action for the River Kennet and funded by Thames Water, the Department for Education, Wiltshire Community Solar Fund and Great Bedwyn School, with key support also from Great Green Bedwyn, Wiltshire Wildlife Community Energy and the Royal Horticultural Society. 

“It was a glorious day for the official opening of ARK’s Rain Gardens in Great Bedwyn," said a spokesperson for ARK.

"Working with the community we have created rain gardens, built rain planters and connected water butts across the village in private gardens and public spaces.

"Managing rainwater like this helps reduce sewer flooding as well as making beautiful places."

Rain gardens are designed to soak up excess water when heavy storms occur. (Image: ARK) Rain planters make an effective alternative to rain gardens when space is limited (Image: ARK)

Rain gardens are essentially shallow areas of ground which can receive run-off from roofs and other hard surfaces.

Each garden contains plants that can withstand temporary water-logging with drought-tolerant plants around the edges, meaning the gardens can absorb 30 per cent more water than a lawn.

Many rain gardens also include rills, which are channels cut into a garden to guide water to the rain garden, as a natural alternative to pipes.

The Great Bedwyn project includes multiple rain gardens, planters and water butts across the village, and site reports for more than 20 homeowners with recommendations of the measures that would work best in their gardens.