Britain’s driest place revealed as tiny village which has had NO rain at all in July

A TINY Hampshire village is Britain’s driest place — with zero rain in July.

Parched Odiham, population 4,500 and home to French prisoners in the Napoleonic Wars, has been bone-dry all month, says the Met Office.

And little relief is on the way for UK gardens.

The forecaster confirmed January to June was the country’s driest since 1976 — and more hot spells are due, with a formal drought set to be declared in days and hosepipe bans likely.

St James’s Park, London, and Charsfield, Suffolk, have seen 0.4mm of rainfall this month. All of London has recorded 0.6mm — one per cent of its July average.

Essex has had 1.7mm and is likely to smash its record low of 6.4mm from 1921.

The Met Office said: “The driest July was in 1868 with 23.2mm of rain. We are at 37.3mm but some counties will see their driest ever.”

The South East had 24 rain-free days from June 1 to July 24, and Central England 23 days.

Last week’s record 40.3C (104F) heat and high water demand has left reservoirs dangerously low.

The National Drought Group moved talks from October forward to yesterday.

Stuart Colville of Water UK said: “We urge everyone to carefully consider the amount they’re using.”

The Isle of Man will ban hosepipes from Friday.