Daniels defends ‘island’ home from more flooding

PAUL DANIELS has spent tens of thousands of pounds on pumps and raised walls to protect his home from flooding.

The magician, who lives in Willow Lane, Wargrave, with his wife Debbie McGee, decided to take action after the floods earlier this year almost breached their £2.5 million riverside property.

Two large sump pumps have been sunk into the patio which surrounds three sides of the house, while the patio walls have been raised to around a foot in height.

Waterproof paint has been applied to one side of the house, which is lower than the rest of the building and prone to damp, and a glass window is to be added to the patio wall at the rear so as not to spoil the view. Daniels, whose home was flooded twice more than a decade ago, had a planning application to raise the property on stilts in 2003 refused by Wokingham Borough Council. He then installed shutters on the ground floor doors.

He says the new defences will make the house impregnable.