An 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.
