July 2010 may have been the month that brought heatwaves and hosepipe bans to some areas of the UK, but according to provisional statistics from the Met Office, it was also the wettest July on record.

While some parts of the South saw low rivers and resevoirs and even faced hosepipe bans after the driest June since 1995, the UK was in fact 46 per cent wetter than average in July and parts of the country, including Merseyside, faced devastating floods.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had 50 per cent more rain than usual.

The latest statistics might seem particularly hard to believe when, on Monday, a 60-mile stretch of the Leeds Liverpool Canal was closed in order to conserve water as drought continued to hit this area of the North West.

The met office are also predicting that the South East is in for more unsettled weather and rain as we head into August.