The half footpath/half stream behind the house is 100% stream at the moment.

@suearcher @mrshsaxon ooh this has got me thinking thank you! I wanted to incorporate a rain chain somewhere - a garden I used to visit in Devon had them inside a greenhouse (didn’t pay attention at the time to how the water came in) - but not sure how. I want to divert water to a butt but then take the overflow away. I wonder if there’s a way to do it high up so can walk under still

@JeniParsons @suearcher we plan to have a couple of these too (given how often the water gets cut off it will be useful) but not really organised enough for that yet. We’ve got a place lined up for one or two. This bit I’m dealing with is in a tight spot and in quite a nice corner of garden.

@helenclayton @suearcher in that case any container needs to be inconspicuous

@JeniParsons @helenclayton

We hid the IBC that's collecting rainwater off the community workshop, by cladding it!

@suearcher @helenclayton very neat job!

@suearcher @JeniParsons tidy job. For me collection isn’t the issue so much - I want to collect the water and don’t mind the look of a water butt - but I need to divert the overflow across 2-3 metres of ground somehow. I wondered what the alternative to burying pipes is.

@JeniParsons @helenclayton

When I say we, I mean Alfred of course, who did all the construction. I applied the woodstain!

We've since added some hexagon motifs and bee cut-outs, to riff on the slight beehive look.

@helenclayton @suearcher we lay blue alkathene pipe in the grass so we don’t accidentally cut it with the mower or a scythe

@suearcher @helenclayton nice

@helenclayton @JeniParsons

A pipe-bridge? Carry the water across a raised structure, maybe you could make it into a pergola or something with climbers growing up? Or would it be too low to walk under?

@Maker_of_Things has done pipe bridges at the community allotment, and at the workshop.

@JeniParsons @suearcher this is over a gravel area

@suearcher @JeniParsons @Maker_of_Things yes, this has got me thinking! I’d not thought about over the head before. There is already an archway I could utilise. The trick will be getting a diverter high enough - it needs to divert to a water butt first. I have two down pipes from different directions but I’ve temporarily joined them. I maybe could do that more permanently otherwise I’ve got two outflows to worry about. I need to do some measuring!

@helenclayton @JeniParsons @Maker_of_Things

Oh I hope you can work something out!

@suearcher @JeniParsons @Maker_of_Things me too, this has been a great brain storm!

@helenclayton @JeniParsons @Maker_of_Things

Well, a brain storm is better than a rain storm at the moment!

@suearcher @JeniParsons @Maker_of_Things when we get around to adding the IBCs it will be a bit easier. I can direct the overflow to the veg patch with pipe as Jeni suggests. It’s this ‘tidy’ corner that is giving me a headache. It needs to be functional and aesthetically pleasing. There’s a vague Japanese theme to it (or was at one point) so a rain chain would be good if I could carry the water overhead to it.

@suearcher @JeniParsons @Maker_of_Things auto correct did initially change it to rain storm. Taking the piss I thought.

@suearcher @helenclayton @Maker_of_Things isn’t it just! Some drier weather in the forecast for this week I believe

@JeniParsons @suearcher @Maker_of_Things the ground here is the most saturated it’s been since we’ve been here. I can’t imagine our soakaway system is working too well.

@helenclayton @suearcher @JeniParsons

This is the pipe bridge I designed and installed at the allotment.

Due to the large roof area of the building, and the lack of fall from the end of the gutter the first long length of bridge pipe, along the green fence, I ran in 110mm soil pipe as a buffer. It can fill and hold a lot more water during a heavy storm.
You can see the smaller 40mm pipe tee'd off from it, and running along the wooden bridge support.

There was minimal fall to get the bridge to move water 12 metres while staying above head height. It could then have a greater fall to an IBC by the polytunnel.

To speed up access to the water I added a blue barrel, connected at the bottom, to the IBC and so it would always be at the same level. Watering cans could then be dip filled instead of using a tap.