**2. Materials and Methods**

The experimental methods utilised in this research are presented in the following sub-sections, including monitoring equipment, hypotheses, materials and methods.

#### *2.1. Location and Climate Context*

The experimental site is located within the premises of the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR), Coventry University (52◦37 N, 1◦41 W), in Ryton Organic Gardens, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, UK. The site, constructed in 2005, is 1 km away from the A45 highway and 1.5 km from the village of Wolston (Figure 1). The land use of the study area could be defined as rural mixed with small peri-urban areas associated with roads, highways, car parks and other civil engineering related infrastructure, as well as small villages. The organic gardens also contain other SuDS devices across the complex such as filter strips, a reed bed, rain gardens and large green areas promoting infiltration and bioretention hydrological processes.

**Figure 1.** Study area in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Coventry, and location of the UK Met Office weather stations.

Coventry has a Cfb climate with warm temperature, fully humid and warm summers, based on the Köppen–Geiger climatic classification used to categorise the climate conditions across the World. Historical weather data for Coventry and its surrounding area have been obtained for the historical series between 1981 and 2010, showing 700.1 mm annual rainfall with 124 days/year with precipitation over 1 mm for Coundon, Coventry, comparing with the UK average values for annual rainfall (1154 mm) and days of rainfall over 1 mm per annum (156) [20]. Data from Church Lawford for the same period exhibited 674.8 mm annual rainfall and 121 days/year of rainfall over 1 mm. In addition, Coleshill presented 712.4 mm annual rainfall and 129 days/year of rainfall over 1 mm. Finally, Wellesbourne showed 614.8 mm annual rainfall and 114 days/year of rainfall over 1 mm (see Table 1).

**Table 1.** Historical weather data for Coventry and its surrounding area, ranging between 1981 and 2010 [20].


It is important to put into context for this study, that climate change effects related to temperatures registered in the UK, especially affected the monitoring period of this study. The ten warmest years in the UK since 1884 have taken place between 2002 and 2019 as reported by the Met Office and also emphasised by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) [21]. This time range covers the full period of monitoring for this field study, highlighting that the 7th warmest year on record was 2018, with July 2019 breaking the record for the hottest day ever recorded in the UK (38.7 ◦C in Cambridge).
