Julie Jones
Don't Hesitate, Get One
Julie Jones on keeping her West Yorkshire garden going through a hosepipe ban with a GRAF slim stone water butt.
This story follows Julie Jones, whose West Yorkshire garden is her sanctuary. With a hosepipe ban days away and local reservoirs running low, she went looking for a water butt that would store plenty of water and look the part.
How To Survive A Hosepipe Ban: A Slimline Water Butt Saved My Garden
Julie Jones · Home garden, West Yorkshire
Julie Jones is in her garden two or three times a day, and with a hosepipe ban coming, she needed a way to keep it watered. After spotting GRAF’s water butts in a social media advert, she emailed straight away and heard back within minutes. Her choice, a 350 litre slim stone water butt, fits a small patio and, for Julie, is as much a piece of garden artwork as a way to store water.
A garden that means a lot
Julie’s garden is her sanctuary. She’s out there two or three times a day, pottering around, checking the plants and seeing what has sprouted overnight. A lot of time and money has gone into the plants, so keeping them watered really matters, especially on a water meter.
Watching the reservoirs drop
Julie first heard about the threatened hosepipe ban on social media, then on the local news. Living among reservoirs, she had watched them deplete rapidly over several weeks. At Baitings Reservoir, grass and weeds were growing where the water would normally be. It was the lowest she had seen it in the 20 years she has lived nearby.
A water butt that fits
Sitting in the garden with a cup of tea, the week before the ban, Julie decided a water butt was the only real solution. Finding the right one was the hard part. It had to hold a large volume of water, look good, fit flush against the wall and not take up too much space.
An advert, an email, a reply in minutes
Then a GRAF water butt appeared in an advert on social media. Julie liked the look of it and thought it would fit the spot well, so she emailed straight away. Callum in the GRAF office got back within minutes. The slimline shape suited the small patio, and its height meant plenty of storage. When Julie mentioned she wasn’t confident fitting it herself, GRAF arranged for it to be installed.
More than a water butt
Julie wanted something that looked the part, not just something that did the job, to sit alongside the sculptures and local artwork in her garden. With the hosepipe off-limits and watering now done by can, the stored rainwater should help keep her many pots hydrated through the summer and, she hopes, reduce water bills in the future.
“I actually emailed the company straight away and Callum in the office got back to us within minutes really. My biggest recommendation for anybody thinking of a water butt is don’t hesitate, get one. It’s definitely an investment worth having. I think all gardens should have a water butt.”
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“We needed a water butt that would hold large volumes of water, that was aesthetically pleasing, that would fit flush against the wall, that didn’t take up too much space. I liked this particular water butt because it was slim line which is important because we’ve only got quite a small patio where the drain pipe is. I wanted to see almost a piece of artwork or a sculpture.”
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