Broadstairs resident Helen Gale now has a new feature in her Gladstone Road garden – a 40 feet deep hole.

Recent heavy rain opened up the former Victorian built bell-shaped soakaway while Helen was away for a weekend.

She said: “I went off on the Friday afternoon and when I returned on the Sunday with friends, there it was. Apparently, my face was a real picture when I saw it.”

Helen works as a cook at the Thanet fire station in Westwood so when she told the firefighters what had happened they decided they should investigate. They informed Thanet Council whose building inspector who identified it as an old soakaway.

Helen said: “What seems to have happened is that a thin concrete cover gave way after many years. The flower bed and some potted plants which were on top have gone with it.

“I don’t know where I stand with the house insurance but it looks like it’s going to take a lot of hardcore to fill up the hole!”