Living on the EDGE: Couple must leave their home of 12 years before it falls into the sea after ‘cataclysmic’ cliff erosion left them just 30ft from disaster
- Author Julie Blaxland, 55, thought her clifftop home in Easton Bavants, Suffolk, would be safe for five years
- But ‘cataclysmic’ erosion caused by recent storms has left the rented farm property just 30ft from disaster
- She and husband Giles Stibbe, 60, have been told to move out straight away and the home will be demolished
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A couple have been ordered to leave their home after more than 10 feet of land fell into the sea last week, leaving the property precariously close to a cliff edge.
After the 3.5-metre section fell away overnight in a ‘cataclysmic event’ last week, engineers concluded a row of three cottages in Easton Bavants in East Suffolk was now 10 metres from the cliff, and unsafe.
Juliet Blaxland, 55, and her husband Giles Stibbe, 60, will now move home next week despite saying as recently as September that they thought her home, one the furthest east in the UK, would be safe for at least five years.
Until recently Ms Blaxland’s home looked reasonably safe from the encroaching North Sea but now has been deemed unsafe
But violent autumn storms, alongside big tides, triggered a dramatic increase in erosion, with nine metres of land lost in the past four months.
Juliet told the Mirror: ‘We knew all along it would eventually be demolished but it has caught us by surprise, as we could have reasonably expected another year here.
‘But ever since we moved in we were always aware of how little time we had left.
‘Demolition is incredibly sad. It’s the end of an era.’
Juliet wrote a book, The Easternmost House, about life at the edge of East Anglia in a home will now be razed to the ground
She said that the house is a ‘landmark’ in Easton Bavents, East Suffolk.
The community, which lies just north of Southwold has been decimated by the incoming tide, with erosion undermining the hamlet which used to have a church, a thriving market and many houses.
Juliet and Army veteran Giles moved in 12 years ago, renting from the local farmer.
Since then the land separating them and the sea has disappeared, with the loss of several houses wich have been safely demolished.
The shocking speed at which one of the UK’s most iconic coastlines is vanishing is revealed in photos taken over two decades
Mike Page, 79, has created a unique aerial archive showing the alarming erosion of land along the coast of East Anglia
This photo set shows how the sea has encroached closer and closer to this facility over the course of the last few years
Engineers have now told the farm owner that all cottage tenants should leave – with demolition crews expected to raze the homes over Christmas.
The couple are moving to the coastal village of Benacre, which also suffers from arosion, but they believe their new home is safe from teh sea for now.
Coastal Partnership East, a group formed by several local councils, has been monitoring the situation.
A spokesman said: ‘Since the 2018 Beast from the East storms we have seen significant lowering of beaches along the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts.
‘Last month, weather events and high astronomical tides caused unexpected, rapid erosion at Easton Bavents. The situation is critical and people living in cliff-top properties are at risk.’