Country diary: Thatching in the rain is unpleasant, but not impossible | Tom Allan

Poundsgate, Dartmoor, Devon: At one point, bundles I have spent hours preparing in the barn are lifted off the roof and scattered across the garden 30ft belowThis is not the weather to be a thatcher. Today, like every day for weeks, it seems as if the rain will never stop. When it does, it soon begins again. The Devon fields are a sog, the roofs like sponges.Still, some work can be done. The top of an English thatched roof is capped with a wheat ridge, held in place with hazel pegs called spars. Fitting a new ridge does not require the rest of the building to be exposed to the elements, so rain is not an impediment to work. It can even make the ridging easier, as wheat is more pliable and easier to shear when wet. Continue reading...