UK weather: Heatwave uncovers National Trust hall's 'ghost garden'
The scorching weather has caused the outline of a Victorian formal garden at Gawthorpe Hall to re-emerge.
The heatwave has uncovered stunning traces of Britain's architectural heritage after a 'ghost garden' emerged at a country house.
The temperature has soared in recent days, hitting 32.2C in Chertsey, Surrey, on Saturday, the highest recorded this year.
The scorching weather has caused the outline of the Victorian formal garden at Gawthorpe Hall, near Burnley, to re-emerge on its front lawn.
Aerial photographs capture the traces of the footpaths of the Victorian parterre garden, which was installed in the 1860s.
Read more: How hot is too hot in the UK's heatwave?
The garden was removed after the Second World War due to maintenance costs but often re-emerges during summer months as various soil types dry at different rates.
Built in the Elizabethan era, the hall was remodelled in the 1850s by noted architect Sir Charles Barry, who sketched out plans for the Houses of Parliament.
Sir Charles also re-designed the gardens at both the front and back of the property.
The one at the back is smaller and was kept after the Second World War, but the front one became too onerous to maintain and was removed in 1946.
It comes after large parts of the UK officially experienced a heatwave.
Temperatures have soared across the country since the weekend, with many areas passing the threshold.
Read more: Will there be another UK heatwave in 2023? Here's what we know
On Tuesday, the Met Office said 35 different counties across the UK were experiencing a heatwave, having had high temperatures on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
These include 27 counties in England, five areas in Scotland, two in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.
Temperatures have cooled slightly this week but have remained mainly in the high 20s.
Most of the UK was hit by thunderstorms and heavy rainfall on Monday, but sunny and dry conditions are expected in most areas for the rest of the week, which could lead to even more locations reaching the heatwave threshold this week.
According to the Met Office, a heatwave is defined as three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold.
