Keeping cool after a winter of 55 days of rain

People in a village have been finding ways of staying resilient while trying to deal with weather conditions from opposite ends of the scale.

In March, Cardinham, near Bodmin in Cornwall, hit the headlines after it endured 55 days of rain without a break, with the run starting on 30 December 2025.

Four months later, villagers are having to cope with a third heatwave in quick succession.

Matt Larcombe, head teacher of Cardinham Primary School, said: "The children have been absolutely brilliant. We've seen with the rain they have been really resilient in the way they have coped. With the heat, they have been really creative about how to keep cool."

The school has seen children keeping their cool by having outdoor assemblies, keeping all doors and windows open and restricting some PE activities to walking rather than running.

Some of the older children have been allowed to bring in mini-fans to use in the classroom while studying.

Larcombe said other children had been creative by making their own paper fans.

Larcombe also put himself in the firing line for a wet sponge at the school summer fete when he was put in some "stocks" - a board with a chick painted on the front and holes for the head and hands.

Cornwall's winter rainfall, covering December, January and February 2026 was the wettest winter on record for 190 years.

The average rainfall for just the combined months of January, February and March was 368mm.

Lizzy Smart was using her garden pond as a rain gauge during the winter when a total 542mm of rain fell over the entire period.

Now it has dried up with only three fish left from what was a shoal of 150.

She said: "This is definitely the heat.

"We don't want this heat anymore and I do pray that the good Lord will send us something called rain."

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