Residents of Britain's driest village say they are having to adopt a 'Mediterranean-lifestyle' to cope with this summer's heatwaves.The village of Histon, north of Cambridge, has seen just 196.4.mm of rainfall since January 1, making it the driest place in the UK according to the Met Office.The reading, taken on July 19, is less than half the amount that fell in the same period two years ago.And hardly a single drop of rain has been recorded in the pretty village - population 4,580 - since June 26 with just a paltry 0.4mm recorded at a local monitoring station.Out walking her dog, local resident Jo Catterick, 62, said life in the area, where houses have thatched roofs, has 'slowed down', with the culture turning more Mediterranean as a result of the hot and dry weather.She said: 'I'm living like a middle-aged Greek woman - where you see them close the shutters at 11am and get all their jobs done first thing in the morning.'They live their lives more in the evening, which I think people are doing much more now, it's much less busy in the day.'Lifelong resident Julie Dunn, 62, says the duck pond on the village green is at the 'lowest level' she has ever seen - while she's using bath water to keep her plants alive. Histon resident Jo Catterick says life in the village has 'slowed down' during the heatwaves The village of Histon, north of Cambridge, has seen just 196.4mm of rainfall since January 1 Steven Snudden says the weather has helped him sell more beer - but left his garden in tatters Hardly a single drop of rain has been recorded in the pretty village of Histon since June 26 A hosepipe ban has been active since July 9, along with the rest of the Cambridge Water regionA hosepipe ban has been in force in the village since July 9, along with the rest of the Cambridge Water region.Ms Dunn said: 'It's a very beautiful area, and it's very pretty, but it doesn't look at it's best - it's just brown and burnt.'The dry weather means I'm having to water and be very careful - we have a bucket in the shower, and we save all our grey water, and we use that for the garden. Driest places in Britain Top ten driest locations so far this year looking at sites with no more than five days of missing data, as of July 19, according to the Met Office:Cambridge, NIAB (Cambridgeshire): 196.4 mm (197 observations)Shoeburyness, Landwick (Essex): 216.2 mm (200 observations)Weybourne (Norfolk): 218.0 mm (200 observations)Cromer (Norfolk): 226.2 mm (199 observations)Marham (Norfolk): 226.8 mm (200 observations)Lingwood, Strumpshaw Hill (Norfolk): 229.6 mm (197 observations)Lossiemouth (Moray, Grampian region): 237.2 mm (200 observations)Tibenham Airfield (Norfolk): 238.2 mm (200 observations)Wainfleet No. 2 (Lincolnshire): 240.6 mm (199 observations)Cavendish (Suffolk): 242.4 mm (200 observations) 'We always put a bucket in when we have a shower to get the excess - washing up water, we always put in the water butt to try and avoid filling our watering cans from the hose.'I think we're all going to have to look at different plants and things for our gardens - it's going to change how peoples' gardens look, they're not going to cope with the degrees of heat that we're getting and the lack of water.'Landlord of the Rose and Crown pub Steven Snudden, 39, says the dry weather has helped him sell more beer - but left his garden in tatters.He said: 'People are just as thirsty for beer, so that helps me, I guess.'Customer-wise, we've been just as busy, if not busier recently.'My garden was growing lovely, but it got trashed in a few days because of people walking on it.'Not being able to water the lawns has had quite an impact for the pub. It's brown with patches of mud.'Four miles away, the Cambridge University Botanic Garden is feeling the impact of the area's low water levels.Their own rainfall reading, 209.5 mm, would put them at the second-lowest level nationwide if included amongst the Met Office's data.The facility's head of horticulture Sally Petitt, 57, said the facility was looking to grow plants more adapted for warmer climates.She said: 'We're actually focussing some of our expeditions and plant-collecting trips on countries that have climates similar to that which we're forecast to have in the future. Residents say they are having to adopt a 'Mediterranean-lifestyle' to cope with the heatwave Almost no rain has been recorded since June 26 with just 0.4mm noted at a monitoring station The National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Histon has measured the village's low rainfall This Environment Agency graphic shows how little rainfall there has been since mid-June