‘It can wash around the house but when that happens we just go out in waders’
Residents of one of Kent’s most flood-hit villages live with the fear a serious breach of the riverbanks could devastate their homes. But they say the high costs and precautions needed are a “price worth paying”. Ben Austin reports
Yalding sits between three rivers – the Beult, the Teise, and the Medway – and on that basis it is hardly surprising it’s prone to regular flooding.
Along the lower part of the village, each house has boarding struts to guard against the Beult’s banks bursting.
And with each passing year comes more regular bouts of heavy flooding.
We spoke to villagers to ask what it’s like living on a notorious floodplain and how they prepare for what has become a regular intrusion into their lives. Seemingly the lowest building in the village is the riverside cottage next to the Post Office. Owned by the postmaster, Tim Chapman, it is a house that has been seriously impacted by its proximity to the water.
In 2006, Tim escaped the London rat-race and moved to Yalding with his wife and daughter. The 66-year-old was already familiar with life on a floodplain having previously come from Thamesmead, a former marsh which would be four metres under water twice a day but for London’s Thames Barrier. Since moving, Tim’s house has been affected at least eight times by high water levels.
The worst of it came on Christmas Day 2013 when hundreds of families living in the area woke to find their homes flooded. Tim said: “We are one of the lowest houses in the village and right next to the river so we will get affected more than most. “Christmas Day 2013 it came up to the middle of our ground floor windows. We had about 5ft of water in the house.” In Yalding, more than 50 people were impacted when homes had to be evacuated.
Residents had to wait months before they could return.
Then Prime Minister David Cameron received a frosty reception when he paid a visit in the aftermath.
It led to millions of pounds from central government for flood defence measures to prevent a repeat event.
For Tim, he and his family were out of their home for more than a year after moving as many possessions as they could upstairs.
“We basically abandoned the house for 15 months, renting place after place,” he said. “We added another floor to here after so where before we were a cottage, we’re now a house.
“Now we don’t have to be living on the ground floor. We can abandon it if we need to.”
The top floor extension was all funded by their insurance company.
Tim added: “Thankfully the insurance company were brilliant. We do pay a slightly higher premium because of our situation but it costs them an awful lot of money.
“They basically refunded our whole rebuild.”
The house has also been fitted
with defences spanning the whole ground floor. A metre-high skirt surrounds the building and there are barricades on every ground floor entrance.
Pumps have also been installed forcing any surface water under the house back away from the ground floor.
The whole downstairs is tiled
and sits on top of a waterproof membrane installed by the previous owner who suffered a flood in 2000.
He put the skirt in two years later and all precautions help keep Tim’s insurance premiums as low as possible.
The postmaster said: “Our insurance went from £300-a-year to just over a grand. A big jump but there are some people here having to pay £10,000 because they don’t have the same defences.”
But Tim’s property is still regularly impacted by flooding – once in 2019 and twice in 2020. On neither occasion did water get into the house and despite the ongoing threat Tim says he hasn’t once thought of moving. “Outside we have a bespoke defence system and most of the time it comes up, it protects us,” he said. “It can wash around the house but when that happens we just go out in waders and park the car up the road so it’s fine. We just live with it.
“We love it here, we love the countryside, the people here. It’s just a pain in the proverbial every now and then.”
Another resident living on the river is Dr Robin Schuldenfrei, who has lived in her 300-year-old Boathouse since 2014.
She and her partner were originally renting the property after prospective buyers pulled out due to what happened on Christmas Day the previous year.
She said: “We rented here first as it was convenient for my commute to London. The first five years didn’t flood at all but in more recent years we have had flooding events every winter.” Flooding at the Boathouse usually happens through the basement and Robin has had pumps similar to Tim’s installed. Preparation is key she explains. “Right now we check our pumps will trigger when we get alerts.
“We do watch the weather so if we have plans to go away we make sure we have someone who can check our pumps. “Then if it is likely we will flood, we do lift some things from the basement. It’s important also, if you know you are going to lose power, that you cook a bunch of food and do any laundry you need to do.”
The house is in a unique position, perched on an island sandwiched between either side of the village and connected by a bridge. The only access is via the crossing with the Beult running either side. However, it does mean the house is susceptible to flooding from multiple angles. But Robin and her family attempt to make light of the situation and on one occasion decided to kayak in their own back garden.
And although there are serious risks which come with flooding, Robin and her family couldn’t imagine living elsewhere.
She said: “To us it’s the price we pay for living in such a wonderful village and community and in a beautiful Grade II-listed building on the longest medieval bridge in Kent.
“That in itself I am willing to take two or three flooding events a winter to live in such a remarkable piece of architecture. “Feeling like the caretakers of this 300-year-old home, that is the price we pay.”