So we have two drain challenges.

The first is that it rains. A lot. And with climate change, it seems that we no longer have a winter and summer, we have a wet season (starts 23 September) and a dry season (starts 23 March), which means a lot of rain water to deal with. Fortunately, generations of Wakelyns folk have seen this coming and dug an extensive network of ditches fed by field drains – fascinating farming history.

Second, is dealing with the waste water (and what it contains) from all the folk who come to Wakelyns. To do that, we’ve dug a lot of new trenches and holes, laid a lot of pipework (50mm and 100mm), installed pumps and – what turns it all into clean water fit for the ditches – Klargesters (all entirely natural processes, nothing nasty added).

It takes a lot to keep Wakelyns from disappearing under water, and poos.