Nature Reserve or Slurry Lagoon?
The scene opposite is at the bottom of a South Zeal resident's garden. It is a large garden, consisting of the amalgamation of three burgage plots, approximately 3 acres in all. To help preserve the natural beauty of the plot and encourage a diverse selection of wildlife, this part of the garden, including a pond had been put over to a nature reserve.

An then one day ...

The piece of land also had a local sewage pipe running underneath it, with a manhole cover to allow for cleaning and maintenance. Unfortunately, the pipe had slowly been getting blocked up, over the years, as it had not been regularly cleaned.
One morning, on a trip down his garden to check on his bees and wildlife pond, the resident - our correspondent, Roy Radford - found that his garden had sunk beneath a lake of sewage. The manhole had overflowed and the contents had covered the garden, filling the pond and killing all the inhabitants.

The water authorities were called out and, after some difficulties, they sent a team of workmen to drain the pond and clean the garden. The picture alongside is how the pond was left! Hardly an area for newts or any other living thing. The surrounding land was no better with all manner of unmentionable things left strewn around on the ground.

The manhole was left as below.