A man dubbed ‘Worcester's King Canute' after building his own flood defences to protect his £600,000 home has shared his tips on how to "stop the tide"."

Nick Upton, 60, won the admiration of his neighbours when he kept his 17th century property safe by surrounding it with a wall and pumps last winter.

Dramatic aerial pictures showed the four-bedroom detached house circled by rising flood water after the River Severn burst its banks earlier this year.

Nick and his wife Annie, 50, bought the house, worth £600,000, in the pretty village of Pixham, Worcs., in 2016, but it has been anything but plain sailing.

Despite commanding stunning views of the River Severn, the house and gardens have flooded 11 times in just eight years.

Much of Britain has already suffered flooding after parts of the country experienced the wettest September on record.

Nick, a retired mechanical engineer, decided to take action last summer to avoid the couple's beloved home being deluged again.

He constructed a reinforced wall around the 340ft (103m) perimeter of the garden.

It was built 4.5ft in height – 30cm higher than the highest previous flood which reached 4ft.

Nick and Annie started building the wall last May, while also installing dam boards on the front and back doors as extra protection.

Since its construction, the wall has successfully withstood three floods and has been instrumental in protecting the house structure.

Nick said: "For us, the wall has been a complete game changer."

"When flooding occurs, we now have a dry layer of land between the house and the wall giving us peace of mind."

"We had three three years with no floods, but then in late 2019 we experienced our first flood and it hasn't really stopped since."

"We have not become keen watchers of the river level gauges and now know when to start preparing for a flood."

In 2020 the couple used a government grant to shore up their home including
installing flood barriers to their porches and fitting a puddle pump and pond vacuum to prevent it overfilling.

Following their successful DIY-flood defence last year, Nick has written an e-book offering tips to homeowners concerned about a winter deluge.

His advice includes simple tips from putting air source pumps above the water line and having power sockets fitted higher up walls.

Nick also offers advice on protecting property while complying with sometimes rigid planning regulations.

He said: "It is important that your neighbours are not negatively affected by your wall, either visually or by flood water being diverted."

"We live in the middle of a flood plain and our nearest neighbour is over 50 metres away so there were no objections."

Due to the height of the wall being less than 2m and the river being 100m away, Nick and Annie did not need to obtain planning permission.

However, the cost of installing such a large barrier has left them out of pocket.

Nick and Annie say the cost of their flood defences has been the equivalent to "a house extension" which is around £35,000."

Nick said: "It's a similar sort of cost to a small extension. "

"We fitted some dam boards that you slot into channels and they build up to the height of the wall. They're watertight and take five minutes to deploy."

"The foundations are reinforced concrete, you have rebar mesh in the base. The blocks are called Stepoc. "

"Then you pour concrete into the blocks. "

"The flood barriers slot into place when you need them. "

"Because we live so close to the river we needed to take lots of measures to protect our home but it's been worth the effort."

"It also looks spectacular when we're surrounded by water."

"When it comes to any flood prevention, you have to think about what could happen and put something in place to prepare for that. "

"And keep it updated and maintained. Seals can break. "

"One is useless without the other. If we didn't have drainage for our nice wall, the water would come in. without that we could flood. "

"You've got to have a means of pumping out on the dry side."

The couple also take practical measures to prevent them being marooned on their ‘island' home when the floods hit.

Nick added: "We don't leave the house because we want to be here just in case. "

"If we had a power cut we have the pumps pumping away. We do have a generator but we need to make sure it starts. "

"We also park one car up the road and the other in the garage and always have our chest waders near the door so we can walk outside."

The Great Wall of Pixham can be downloaded from the floodmary.com website.

NICK'S FLOODING TIPS

1.Keep white goods on raised plinths to avoid the risk of water damage
2.Non-return valve in sewer pipe to avoid toilet waste being pumped back into the property.
3.Electrical sockets on the ground floor raised a few feet


4.Sump/pump to remove water from the property quickly and easily
5.Have self-closing air vents on the ground floor as it's one of the easiest ways water enters a home
6.A Kitemarked flood door to help seal the entrance
7.Kitchen units raised on plinths and made from either metal or marine ply
8.All sentimental, important items and documents kept upstairs and high value items kept on high shelves.
9.Separate electrical circuits for upper and lower floors to avoid shorts
10.Flood barriers on the outside of the property