Santon Downham has certainly been a hot topic of conversation this week, as it set record high temperatures. SARAH HUSSAIN went to the tiny Thetford forest village to find out why it is often so hot there and how the locals cope
When the heatwave took hold on Monday, all eyes were on Santon Downham.
It was here, on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, where the mercury rose highest, reaching 38.2C and setting a new national record.
The following day it smashed its own record, reaching 39C - although it did lose the overall UK title, as other areas became even hotter.
But this was not the first time the tiny Suffolk village has captured the attention of the country's weather watchers.
It is often in the national headlines for its sweltering heat.
That is partly because this is one of the locations where temperatures are closely monitored: it is home to one of the Met Office's hundreds of weather stations, dotted around the country to monitor heat, rainfall and other measures.
But it is also because of its very particular local conditions which help turn this village - which has around 80 homes and a population of 250 - into a forest furnace in the height of summer.
As Chris Bell, forecaster at Weatherquest explained, it was what is in the ground, as much as what is in the sky, which makes the area so hot.
"It's the sandy soil of the Breckland," he said. "Sandier soils tend to not have as much moisture content in them, when you have a drier surface that tends to warm-up and cool down much more quickly than the soil around it."
The village weather station itself is located in the grounds of the East England Forestry England offices, in an area cordoned off by rudimentary wood and wire fencing.
Inside the cordon, things look a little more hi-tech: temperatures are monitored inside a 'Stevenson screen' - a white box with slats that allow air to flow through it.
The facility doesn't just break records for its high temperatures. The sand also cools down quickly and Santon Downham also holds the joint title for the all-time coldest June temperature of -5.6C, in 1962.
But this week it has been the heat which locals have been focusing on.
They describe the village as the "topsy-turvy weather capital of the UK", and having its own "microclimate" and have become accustomed to its extremes.
At the height of this week's heatwave, the vast majority of homes had blinds and curtains drawn.
Rebecca Tuohy-Hoy, a children's complex care nurse, had decided to work from home on Tuesday following Monday's extreme heat.
She said: "It was really hot and humid.
"I've been staying indoors to stay away from the heat. It's difficult to stay cool because of the humidity.
"We usually sit in the garden but last night we couldn't even sit out.
"We get lots of horse riders here for the forest. Yesterday there was literally no-one. People seem to be staying indoors."
Rachel Landers, a teacher at the nearby American airbase at RAF Lakenheath, said: "Usually you see people out and about walking, and horses going past. But there's been nothing, everyone is safely inside.
"It's lovely living here. We are close enough to the city and Cambridge is near. It's a nice quiet life here."
She said her family were staying in their pool, drinking a lot of water and "waiting out" the heatwave.
The village was created and once owned by Forestry England before it sold the houses on, and had at one point had its own post office and village shop.
The only community building it now boasts is the village hall, which is home to Breckland Club and a bar at weekends.
Yet while locals say there is "nothing" in Santon Downham, they also say its location makes it an ideal place to live, with scenic river and forest walks on their doorstep.
These charms also attract visitors. Indeed, they make the village a hotspot for other reasons: on Tuesday, the nearby picnic ground at St Helen's Picnic Site was busy with families taking to the Little Ouse River with floats, paddleboards and canoes.
John Wilkin, who was holidaying in the village from Leicester, arrived on Sunday for cycling before the village's record breaking heat.
He said: "I was out in the morning having a wander and then gave up, from about 3pm you could feel it going up and it didn't seem to go down."
A resident of 10 years, who asked not to be named, said: "We never heard of the weather until we moved here.
He said: "It's a little microclimate. It's also the coldest in the winter."
He jokingly said that residents have "got good" at adapting to the weather, adding: "Every summer it's like this, not to this extent this year."
Lisa Russell, 60, and Tim Kaye, 61, who have lived in the village for 25 years, run a website about Santon Downham and keep a close eye on its weather records.
They said they had ventured out after 4pm on Monday to a temperature of 38C in the shade, but were grateful for having their very own 'ice room' to stay cool in, which was at a much lower 16C.
Their home was formerly the billiard room of the Santon Downham estate which was demolished in the 1920s. In it they have a "giant brick igloo" which acts as a storage room for their wine and a place for them to sit on warmer days.
"We do get extremes", the couple said.
"People can't understand why it's hotter than elsewhere.
"It's an interesting place. You never quite know what the weather is going to do.
"If it's hot, it's going to be hot."
Ms Russell added: "I'm always tickled when somewhere as tiny as this makes the national news."
SANTON'S STORY
The weather is not the village's only claim to fame.
In 1972, its bridge over the River Little Ouse appeared in an episode of Dad's Army, when Captain Mainwaring and his troops attempt to demolish it.
For many years, the village was the administrative centre for the Eastern Forestry Commission, following the planting of tens of thousands of trees in the area.
The commission built its HQ close to the site of Downham Hall, a stately home which was demolished in the 1920s.
But the defining event in the village's history was the 'Great Sand Flood', between 1665 and 1670, when a series of sandstorms threatened to overwhelm the village and helped create its unique conditions.
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