Life afloat is like being in a constant David Attenborough documentary...

Even if you're sometimes at the mercy of Mother Nature, writes author and Thames dweller GEORGINA MOORE, who lives in one of the UK's largest houseboat communities

- GEORGINA MOORE

SINCE then, in my 15 years as a houseboat dweller, I’ve learnt that we are more at the mercy of elements than traditional homeowners.

For instance, the 2014 flooding meant that our garden was under six feet of water and it was almost impossible getting on and off our floating home. A houseboat just rises with the water — but the land you are attached to by a gangway does not.

I had two very small children and, in the end, the fast, swirling water just looked too dangerous to contend with, had I lost my grip on one of them. So we had to move out for a week to rented accommodation while my partner, James, stayed — lying awake all night worried that our waterborne residence would slip its mooring.

But it’s not just high water levels you need to be aware of; low water due to a slip-up in the management of nearby locks and you can suddenly find yourself beached on the riverbed — perched at an uncomfortable angle! Nowadays, we have a raised walkway through our garden as a precaution against flooding, so there is always a way on and off. But our neighbours’ houseboat once sank after they hosted a party — a hole had been slowly growing in their hull from rubbing against a rock — and another lost his floating home in a fire.