Renovated Cottage

This cottage has undergone many improvements over the years. In it's original form it was probably a timber framed construction and finished with wattle and daub.
About 30 years ago a local tradesman bought it and carried out a major refurbishment, he told me at the time that some of the main timbers were said to have come from a ship wrecked on the local coast.
Not many cottages have survived due to the building materials available in the area, all those years ago, being so limited. There was little or no stone available in the immediate vicinity and transport was difficult due to the marshy conditions all around. Very few hard wood trees grew here.
I suspect reeds would have been the material used for thatching before the surrounding land was drained and grain crops grown. Straw would then have been available.