Country diary: Back to meet an old friend - my first thatch | Tom Allan

Dartington, Devon: It's been 13 years since I was last on the roof of this 14th-century longhouse, and neither of us are as we wereAn easterly breeze is knocking the heat out of the April sun as I hitch a bundle of hazel sticks on to my shoulder. As I climb the ladder, I can hear the inch of lichen beneath it crunching like dried seaweed. I'm thatching the Cott Inn, a Devon longhouse, and it's a noteworthy moment as, after 13 years of thatching, I'm back at the first roof I worked on as an apprentice.I am using wheat for the ridge, a variety called Triticale grown specifically for thatching. This year, thatching wheat is in desperately short supply after waterlogged fields last winter and a wet harvest. Fortunately - given the shortage - I am not rethatching the whole roof of the Cott, just replacing the ridge (the capping on the top), which wears most quickly as it bears the brunt of the weather. Continue reading...