A group of holidaymakers have been rescued from a water-locked cottage after being marooned for more than a week.
Simon Hughes, 44, and his extended family – a total of eight adults, four children and a dog – had rented out pretty Ferryman's Cottage, which sits on the banks of the River Severn in Uckinghall, for the Christmas period.
They arrived at the seven-bedroom home in the afternoon of December 22, driving through six inches of water already on the ground. But the water level suddenly began to rise and the Environment Agency closed a flood gate, shutting the cottage off from the rest of the village.
The holidaymakers were left unable to leave the property and could only watch in shock as seven feet of water built up in the surrounding land. They were only evacuated on Saturday, when search and rescue crews braved the deep waters in two boats and ferried them to safety.
It was the first reunion in 20 years of all the family members, one of whom is a diabetic who only had enough insulin for a week.
Within hours of their arrival the fields surrounding the seven-bedroom, four-bathroom cottage began to fill with water.
Mr Hughes, a technical author, said: "When we arrived I had no inkling we were in a flood zone. We didn't know the Severn had breached its banks. We were due to stay for a week and I thought we'd be taking lots of walks.
"There was a five-bar gate on the edge of the property and by the morning we could only see four bars.
"We only had 20 yards of grass in the back garden to play with, the rest was just submerged. It was about 10ft at the deepest.
"Four hundred yards of land around us went down to just 100 yards and then all the fields disappeared.'
Mr Hughes was with his partner Lecia Watts, his children Alex, ten, and Charlie, two, his diabetic father Terry, 72, and his partner, Linda.
Simon's mother Pam, 71, also arrived along with his sister Becky Stevens, 47, her husband John and their children Ben, 11, and Meghan, ten.
Simon's aunt Kris also joined the group with the family dog Peggy, a seven-year-old Patterdale Terrier.
The family had little option but to make the most of their time together indoors, playing board games, treasure hunts and Headbands, where they had to guess names written on bits of paper and stuck to their foreheads.
But on Christmas Eve, after two days of solid rain, they were going 'totally mad,' according to Mr Hughes.
As a result, he and his brother-in-law John decided to brave the waters in the dark, armed with torches and wellies, to try to reach a pub.
After wading through the waist-deep water, they eventually made it and described their plight to locals who lent the family a boat so a couple of them at a time could leave the cottage to go for supplies while a rescue was planned.
The family were finally taken to dry land on Saturday when the West Midlands Search and Rescue Service arrived with two boats.
Judy Gibson, chairman of the Uckinghall Flood Action Group said: "We had absolutely no idea that anyone was in that cottage. I spoke to the owner the day before the people were due to arrive and he was going to stop them from coming. Somehow the message did not get passed on.
"They arrived in the afternoon of the 22nd and just hours later the Environment Agency shut the flood gate. The water rose and rose over the next two days. I only found out they were there on Boxing Day, when someone who lives next to the cottage, but has two boats, mentioned there were four cars outside. It was such a surprise and it was even more of a surprise when I saw there were children and a dog."
The group had luckily ordered a Sainsbury's delivery for the festive period, which was able to drive through the water shortly after their arrival. This meant they were stocked up for the duration.
Judy added: "I called the Environment Agency as soon as I found out that there were people there and they got in contact with them. Apparently they said they were perfectly happy inside and had enough supplies to last until their holiday ended on Saturday. They arranged to leave with the help of search and rescue crews, who arrived at 11.30am. They couldn't return to their cars though, they had to hire out a minibus to get home."
Uckinghall was given a flood gate in 2011, after the area was badly affected in the 2007 floods.
The gate blocks off three cottages, including The Ferryman's Cottage, which sit right by the banks of the River Severn, half a mile from the rest of the village. Workers from the Environment Agency shut the gate, which is not expected to open for another ten days, at 6.30pm on December 22.
Judy added: "The house itself does not flood, but it does get completely surrounded by water. There was so much water, at least 7ft, around the house and they just would not have been able to leave at all. I would have thought they would have been desperate to leave but apparently not. It can't have been a very fun Christmas stuck inside though."
Uckinghall is a hamlet with around 60 houses, situated between Tewkesbury and Upton in Gloucestershire.
The West Midlands Search and Rescue Service confirmed that they had rescued 12 people and a dog who were stranded half a mile into a flood plain at Uckinghall.
