Country diary: Mending the last thatched roof in the village | Tom Allan

Ardersier, Moray Firth: I've come all the way from south Devon and my colleague from the Outer Hebrides, such is the dearth of thatchers in Scotland nowI have come across many ways of securing thatch to a roof, from pointed hazel spars to heather rope, iron crooks to old-fashioned tarred twine. But this 17th-century roof in the fishing village of Ardersier offers something I haven't seen before: everything has been tied down with orange baler twine.As basic as the technique may seem, it's worked: the string-tied water reed has survived 35 winters in the north-eastern Highlands. The thatch is underpinned by a base coat - a layer of turf resting on the roof timbers. The turf is probably over a century old, and flecked with heather and marram grass (known here as "bent"). Continue reading...