The big British bamboo crisis: ‘It invaded my beautiful

The plant can punch through paving stones, asphalt and even the foundations of your house. In one case, the bill for damage reached £100,000. So why does this problem just keep on growing?

Isobel Chetwood moved to her dream home on her birthday just over a decade ago. As she wound up a 40-year career in the NHS as a GP practice manager in Stockport, Greater Manchester, she was keen to return to her roots in Cheshire. She settled in a comfortable house in the quiet village of Plumley.

Chetwood, 68, lives alone. When she moved in, she found a gardener (“I don’t do dirt down me fingernails,” she says, laughing). He made her a raised bed for growing strawberries, alongside a fence that divided her garden from her neighbour’s. “It was beautiful out there,” she says.

In one case tackled by Environet, all the flooring on the ground level had to be ripped up. Photographs: Environet UK