As the United Kingdom grapples with a record-breaking drought and widespread hosepipe bans, the affluent Bishops Avenue in Hampstead, London, commonly known as 'Billionaires' Row,' has maintained remarkably green gardens.
Aerial images reveal that a number of the sprawling mansions on the street, valued at up to £100 million, have retained lush lawns despite over 50 days without significant rainfall. Residents in this exclusive postcode, which counts royal family members, tech moguls, and entertainment industry titans among its inhabitants, are subject to the same hosepipe restrictions as the rest of the country, implemented by Thames Water.
Maintaining Greenery Amidst Restrictions
Homeowners on The Bishops Avenue and neighboring Winnington Road have managed to keep their gardens verdant through several permissible methods. These include the use of watering cans, approved irrigation systems with pressure-reducing valves and timers, and potentially boreholes.
A borehole is a deep shaft drilled into the earth to access groundwater, which can yield approximately 10,000 liters of water daily, a volume described as more than sufficient for homes, farms, and small commercial properties. This groundwater, filtered through subterranean rock layers, is not subject to government restrictions.
While there is no evidence of any residents breaching the current water restrictions, the contrast between these well-maintained gardens and the parched landscape elsewhere has drawn attention. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's Essex estate also features notably green lawns, attributed to a large private lake on his property from which he draws water via installed hosepipes. Water taken from privately owned sources, such as lakes, ponds, springs, or wells on a property, is exempt from hosepipe bans.
National Drought Conditions and Weather Outlook
Drought has been declared across all of Wales and nearly three-quarters of England. Provisional data indicates that the UK is on track for its hottest summer on record, with the mean temperature from June 1 standing at 16.48C, 1.88C above the 1991-2020 average. The hottest day of the year, reaching 38.1C, was recorded recently, narrowly missing the all-time record of 40.3C set in 2022. This has led to devastating wildfires, prompting the first national emergency alert for wildfires to mobile phones.
More than 27 million people are currently subject to water use restrictions. Wessex Water became the latest company to implement a hosepipe ban on Tuesday.
Looking ahead, forecasters predict a potential shift with thundery showers moving south across the country this week, with the heaviest rain expected on Thursday. However, experts warn that the dry, hardened ground could lead to surface water flooding as intense rain falls. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 20s Celsius in southern England and Wales, and the high teens in northern areas, more typical for a British summer. The Met Office has also raised the possibility of late-season heatwaves in early September, particularly in the south.
