IN WITH THE NEW OUT WITH THE OLD

I didn’t expect him to be there. The cottage always looked as though it had been abandoned. I had no idea of what its purpose was. Certainly it was not regularly occupied. It could only be accessed by means of a track that goes across a deer park, clearly private. And there he was, working steadily at thatching the roof of this rather ornate cottage. I had previously noticed that the existing thatch was black and thought nothing of it. But already I could see the new bright fresh new straw that was taking its place over the roof. Later in the evening, at the end of Repair Shop programme, there was a brief sequence showing the edge of thatch in The Barn in heavy rain. Water was pouring off the edge of thatch, it was clearly resistant with nothing being absorbed into the roof. That is what it is all about. It’s a long job, the thatcher explained to me, undertaken painstakingly. It was a complex roof, even I could see that. He will be there for a few weeks yet. Then all would be well. A job well done.