Floods destroyed our business – rebuilding it has been exhausting

From insurance to water-proofing, a shop owner in the Lake District is hoping to rebuild her business in time for the Easter tourists

• Floods ruined our business - we now need to rebuild it from scratch
• The army loaded the sad heap of rubbish that was our livelihood on a skip

Almost three months have now passed since our business, the Braithwaite Village Shop, was destroyed by the flooding caused by Storm Desmond. On 5 December the usually pretty stream that is the Coledale Beck was turned into a raging torrent that smashed through our shop and resulted in the total loss of absolutely everything in it.

The store was gutted, its contents loaded onto skips and over the last few weeks we have spent endless hours attached to a phone or a computer as we set about rebuilding our business. We are focused on rebuilding and restocking it in time for Easter, when we hope to reopen.