Master thatcher Brian Lafferty carries a bundle of roofing materials, traditionally reed, flax or straw, which allows the rain to fall off roofs like 'water off a duck's back' A new school in Ireland ...

GRASPING AT STRAWS is all the rage among a growing number of British homeowners, as Mark Phillips now shows us: When it comes to housing design, it's hard to get more retro than this: a thatched roof, ...

Description: It’s hard to give up an idea that you had for so long even when you find out it’s false or exaggerated. For example, everyone seems to have this idea that a thatched roof is extremely ...

The custom of continuing to thatch farm buildings with rye straw throughout the 19th and into the 20th century was among the most intriguing. This traditional craft was handed down ...

Q. I have an 11-year-old house in Tewksbury I built myself. It has a hand-split, rough-sawn, cedar-shingle roof. When it was first installed, and every two to three years since, I have had Penofin ...

This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The ...

PORTNOO, Ireland — A new school in Ireland is training up a fresh generation of thatchers in a bid to save the country's disappearing thatched roofs, an iconic feature of the Irish landscape. In a ...