For some, it is about what it does to the garden. For others, it is what it does to their mind. And for a few, the bad weather is the difference between making a profit and another year of loss. But it affects us all.
Last summer was unusually wet. It was followed by a damp autumn. Then there was a soggy winter. Now, after two weeks of rain, the country awaits, in hope as much as expectation, the arrival of summer.
How are we coping?
The public farm
Ben Barraclough remembers when he had many cows, mooing around his Mini Meadow farm park. These days, he has a rather more slimmed-down herd. The problem is that when it rains cows have a tendency to turn a mini meadow into a mini mudbath.
“The last four years the weather has changed hugely. Four years ago we used to have relatively cold winters, which are really good because it dries out the ground. But nowadays, we seem to be having winters that start in September.
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“The rain we have isn’t just a bit of rain, it’s always serious, torrential rain. And the problem with that is it makes the ground really wet, which then turns up and it never gets a chance to recover.”
Particularly if it’s being trampled not only by the 100,000 visitors their Northamptonshire farm park gets annually, but also the cows they come to see.
“We used to have lots of cows, but as they are quite heavy animals they turn the ground up and it never has a chance to recover. We have had to really adapt the business over the past three years with the rain.”
Mini Meadows has also been helping nearby residents in care homes that could not make it outside as much due to poor weather conditions by bringing the farm to them for free.
“Even in good care homes, many residents can be stuck inside for a lot of the day and the opportunity to do something exciting is not always available to them, so if we can take the mini farm to them, it’s just a great thing to do.”
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The farmer
What really worries Tom Martin, a Peterborough farmer, is what might happen just before harvest. “The danger at the moment is when crops are nearly ready for harvest, if you get particularly heavy rain they can all end up going flat.
“It’s a crucial time because you’ve worked for 12 months to get this crop to harvest; there’s no plan B.”
Of course, between now and then is important too. “We really could do with a little bit of rain and plenty of sunshine. If we get too much grey weather then we don’t get all the good stuff for the crops that we need.”
He knows that, to an extent, his fortunes always depend on the weather, but that doesn’t stop him hoping it gets a little better. “Part of the joy of farming is the challenge but there is huge pressure that comes with that. You’ve got people who’ve been investing in their crop all year, and then they lose it at the last minute.”
“It’s a reason why farming has pretty much the highest suicide rate of any of any sector. It can be so cruel and often you feel like you are facing these challenges alone.
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“The whole of the UK farming industry needs the weather to come through.”
The head gardener
George Swordy, 57, has not seen a year like it in his career. Neither, he thinks, have his plants. As head gardener the Alnwick Garden in Northumberland — famed for its collection of poisonous plants — it feels to him like it has been raining continuously since November.
“This year hardly anything has grown because it’s either been too wet, too cool or too windy. Whereas, this time last year it was scorching hot. It’s the worst wet weather I have seen since I started working here.”
The poisonous plants are not germinating, the teams are not going out to replant the ornamental gardens, and what is planted is being unplanted.
“We have to deal with the pheasants digging up bulbs too, which I have only seen happen in the last few years,” Swordy says.
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The Royal Horticultural Society gardener
For Nadine Mansfield, 47, a garden designer at RHS Flower Show, Tatton Park in Cheshire, it’s the variability that’s causing the problems.
“Just the other day I was putting on sun cream, but now people are saying we should be applying Scotchguard instead because it’s been absolutely chucking it down. I’ve got to be able to work in all sorts of weather and be resilient with my work, but when it comes to my plants it gets a bit tricky.”
Some plants, including geranium rozanne and alchemilla mollis (lady’s mantle), have not bloomed due to the changeable and wet weather, and might not be ready for the show. “When there is too much water the plants don’t know what to do with themselves.” Neither does she. “I don’t remember being at home during the summer holidays and thinking, oh my god, I wish it would stop raining!”
The care home manager
The residents need sunshine. They need it for vitamin D, they need it for their sleep rhythms, and they need it just to keep them human. This is why Caroline Naidoo, 46, managing director at KYN care homes, has found this summer so difficult.
She said her teams had focused on making activities for residents as agile as possible, so if there is a break in the rain they can move events outside; everything from gin and cocktail tasting on the terraces with blankets to keep residents cosy, tai chi and yoga, flower arranging, calligraphy to indoor gardening.
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But, inevitably, there have been a lot of wet weather days. “The rain has not been great for anyone recently, but we prioritise physical exercises inside from taekwondo, pilates and chair exercises for those who are less mobile.”
The single mother
If the rain continues, says Carly Newman, 38, “I’m going to go insane!” Her son Ezra is 6, and, as she is all too aware, about to be on holiday for six weeks.
“The prospect of it is anxiety-inducing as it’s a really long time for parents. I am having to take three weeks annual leave to cover it. I mainly rely on outdoor activities in London, but my options are going to be very limited. I’ll be looking for indoor alternatives but there might be cost implications with that.
“I don’t have too much space in my flat, and I guess it could feel like having Covid PTSD if we end up cooped up inside all day if the weather is no good!”
