A restored Somerset river landscape has stayed strikingly green through one of the UK’s hottest summers on record, offering a vivid demonstration of what holding water in the land can do.
At the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate, restored wetlands, reconnected river systems and beaver activity have kept ponds full and soils moist while much of the surrounding countryside became parched.
The work is designed to slow water during storms and keep more of it available during drought, helping wildlife, downstream communities and farmers at the same time.
Tenant cattle have continued to find wetland vegetation and shade during the heat. The contrast is almost suspiciously visual: one landscape has been engineered to lose water quickly, while the restored one has learned how to keep it.