Wet, wetter, wettest.

Downpour over water meadow
(Digital media George Roberts Feb 2014)

This winter was the wettest winter in the United Kingdom since records began in 1910.
According to provisional figures from the Met Office, the UK received 486.8mm of rain between 1 December 2013 and 19 February 2014. This beat the previous record of 485.1mm of rain set in 1995.

Toot and I live in a house located on relatively high land so we were largely unaffected by flooding.  Many in East Anglia live either next to the sea or within the floodplains of rivers and consequently were not so lucky.

A water-meadow is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity.

Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-meadows have now largely disappeared, but the field patterns and water channels of derelict water-meadows remain common in areas where they were used. Derelict water-meadows are often of importance as wetland wildlife habitats.

Water-meadows should not be confused with flood-meadows, which are naturally covered in shallow water by seasonal flooding from a river. "Water-meadow" is sometimes used more loosely to mean any level grassland beside a river. 

East Anglia and particularly the area around Dedham Suffolk is famous for the outstanding beauty of its landscape and in particular its water meadows which were the subject of many master-pieces by the artist John Constable (1776-1837).

Dedham Vale 1802
( Oil on  canvas: John Constable Victoria and Albert Museum)

Credits: Wikipedia, The Met Office and BBC News