Man who has been storing rainwater since 1976 drought has thousands of litres to get him through hosepipe ban

They say you should always save for a rainy day - but Peter Harden has been saving rain for dry days.

The 82-year-old has been collecting rainwater since the drought of 1976, and over the decades, he has amassed more than 6,000 litres.

The retired headteacher has installed nine massive water containers at his property in Ingoldsby, Lincolnshire, which no doubt some people may consider excessive.

However, the region is now experiencing its worst drought in 26 years and a hosepipe ban has been put in place - so it's probably safe to say Peter is feeling pretty smug right now.

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Peter has been living in his bungalow with his wife Jill for 52 years, and the keen gardener isn't worried about the current drought, has he plenty of water to keep his paddock lush and green.

"We live in an area with one of the lowest mean rainfalls in the country," he reasoned. "We get a circa of 22 inches per year.

"We bought our two-acre paddock, the site of a demolished windmill, in 1969 and built our bungalow on it.

"At the time it was standing in water and throughout following winters this sort of continued until the great drought of 1976.

"This latter experience encouraged me to install a couple of rainwater butts.

"I used to hosepipe the garden, then I went on a water meter and I then thought it would be nice to have some water butts.

"I have now gone over 6,000 litres. I have nine water butts."

Peter took his inspiration from his holidays to Europe, which have frequently included visits to ancient Greek and Roman towns.

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He said: "We were always impressed by the huge number of domestic underground cisterns that the Romans et al pre-built to catch rainwater for very dry summers.

"With this experience in mind, I gradually increased the number and size of my rainwater butts until about 15 years ago when I had nine 375-litre capacity butts fed directly by rainwater from the bungalow's guttering."

At this point, you're probably gasping to know how Peter's big, old rainwater system works - well, yearn no more.

Peter explained: "The large tanks, which stand on the ground surface, are filled directly by garden hose from some of the 375 litres water butts to the bulk water containers at the bottom of our garden.

"Using an electrically powered submersible water pump, I pump water through a garden hose from one of the tanks through a spray attached to the garden hose.

"As the level of water falls in the one tank it levels out in the other tanks through gravity feed through the interconnected pipes.

"Three of my original 375-litre water butts have since become unserviceable and I am waiting to replace them. I also am trying to buy two more 1,000 litre bulk containers to increase my water storage volume."

Fair play, Peter. Fair play.