Historic garden adapts as hosepipe ban takes effect

Gardeners at a historic property say they are using less water in the grounds as they adapt to hotter, drier conditions.

At the National Trust's Kingston Lacy in Dorset, staff have reduced watering and introduced drought-tolerant planting ahead of the Wessex Water hose pipe ban, which came into force on Tuesday.

The changes are part of a long-term effort to cut water use and respond to climate change, with some trees already showing signs of stress.

Senior Marketing and Communications Office, Clare Gascoigne, said: "All of these elements feed into decreasing our water usage, which is a really important part of dealing with climate change."

She said the changes included planting wildflower meadows and letting the grass grow during "no mow May".

"We are certainly seeing something called false autumn, which is where the trees are starting to turn brown earlier than they would do normally," said Gascoigne.

She said she hoped their borders would continue to "look really good" as they would not be watering using hosepipes.

Gascoigne said during the hot spell the greenery would "dry out" and turn yellow before "miraculously" returning to full colour after the rain.

"My garden is burning to a crisp, I'm desperate to save my plants, but I also want to do the right thing and make sure I'm not just using water carelessly," she added.

Wessex Water's ban - its first since 1976 - brings it in line with eight other water companies nationwide that have introduced restrictions over the summer.

The prolonged and extreme dry weather has meant demand across the region has consistently remained at more than 400 million litres per day, 30 per cent above average for this time of year," said the company's chief executive Ruth Jefferson.