Living right on the edge

Ansbro’s home in the village of Thorpeness, England. It is one of the thousands of homes along the eastern coast that are threatened by the rapidly eroding cliffs. — New York Times

ON a stormy day in the spring of 2021, the sea defences on the beach below Lucy Ansbro’s cliff-top home in Thorpeness, England, washed away. Then, the end of her garden collapsed into the North Sea.

As she watched the plants tumble over the edge, she feared that her house in this coastal village 178km north-east of London would be next.