FARMERS across the Mole Valley are praying for a sustained period of dry weather after weeks of torrential rain created serious problems for them.
Hugh Broom, vice-chairman of the National Farmers Union's Dorking branch, said members – whether farming livestock or arable crops such as wheat and barley – had suffered a "double whammy" of a soggy summer followed by a wet winter in 2012.
The 39-year-old told the Advertiser: "The ground conditions are pretty horrendous and there are impacts all round.
"People haven't been able to get corn in that should have been sown in September, while some of the crops that were put in the ground have failed because it was so wet. Those arable boys have been pretty badly affected.
"There's a massive amount of catching up to do over the next couple of weeks, even if it does dry up."
Mr Broom, who has worked on his family's two farms between Westcott and Dorking all his life, said cattle farmers were already suffering a shortage of feed and now had dreadful ground conditions to contend with.
"People who grow forage maize, which gets sown in May and harvested in September, found the summer so wet and horrible that the maize didn't grow," he said.
"Plus the quality of the grass silage that was made would have been severely affected because of the lack of sunshine and the wet.
"That's going to affect beef and dairy farmers because they won't have the food in the bank to see them through the winter.
"Couple that with this rain now, which has meant moving stock around and has impacted operations generally, and it has been pretty miserable right the way through."
Mr Broom said Christmas morning had been worst of all, with an intense deluge causing some "amazing flooding" on his land.
"We had a huge amount of rain on already saturated ground," he said. "It was bloody awful and there was no severe weather warning issued.
"Even now, we've got some really bad run-off which has eroded the soil away and washed a gully in the field.
"It's the same for anyone doing anything outside, but Mole Valley's farmers have taken a real hit.
"We're crossing our fingers for a dry spell."
The Advertiser's weather man Ian Currie was able to offer a little comfort to farmers, predicting some much colder – but drier – weather.
"There is a possibility of snow in February, but that's not necessarily a bad thing," he said.
"If snow covers the ground it will stop the worst of the frosts; mild weather might cause things to grow too early and then be cut down by late frosts.
"I certainly don't think it's going to be quite as wet, although we will have some precipitation." The persistent rain has affected everyone whose work or hobbies depend on the great outdoors. Jerry Strzebrokowski, manager of Tillingbourne Trout Farm, said visitor numbers at his fishing lake in Abinger Hammer had dropped dramatically as all but the hardiest of anglers stayed in the dry. "It's affected every business," said the 35-year-old. "We are a smokery and a farm shop and we have the fishing attractions. "All this rain makes it very unpleasant for visitors, and it has been particularly bad the last two weeks." Leatherhead Community Garden secretary Kayleigh Arunasalon said no crops had been planted at the West Hill School site this year on the 'hunch' they would be ruined by the weather. But she had found one unexpected knock-on effect caused by the rain. "Our chickens got a little bit grumpy," she said. "The wet weather wouldn't let up and as a result we have had even fewer eggs produced for this time of year. "They usually slow down a little but we are lucky to get an egg a day at the moment." But Barrie Arminson, who runs the Kingfisher Farm Shop and watercress farm in Abinger Hammer, welcomed the deluge and said his crop was thriving. Mr Arminson, 74, said: "I am happy about all the rain, although I'm sure most people won't be very happy to hear that. "Even if a thing likes rain, you can have too much of it; but this recent spell has helped our watercress recover from the frost damage which damaged it and made it unsaleable. "We're hoping to have enough to start selling in our shop very soon." The soggy final months of 2012 have boosted the level of Sutton and East Surrey Water's reservoir to 100 per cent. According to the company – which provides water to 655,000 people in east Surrey, West Sussex, west Kent and south London – 2012's 1,033mm of rain made it the fourth wettest year on record in its distribution area, while England as a whole recorded the wettest year ever. Sutton and East Surrey Water's operations director Mike Hegarty said: "We have to accept that we live in a drier than average area of the UK, which is one of the reasons why we are more prone to drought concerns than other regions. "And, although we had a very wet latter part of 2012, it is worth recalling that we had water-use restrictions in place only last spring. "Fortunately, last year's overall rainfall in the company's supply area, with April to July being the wettest four months ever recorded by us for that time of year, has now significantly replenished our underground resources and our reservoir is now 100 per cent full." Both October and November were wetter than average, and there was 70 per cent more rain in December than usual – up to 141mm from the long-term average of 82mm.
