allan-tom
Country diary: English thatchers are having to take to the woods | Tom Allan
Start Bay, Devon: I’m on the hunt for straight hazel for a roof, and supple hazel for a fiddly porch. Normally I wouldn’t be doing this
Tom Allan
25, Feb, 2023 @5:30 AM
Country diary: The alder trees here are suffering | Tom Allan
Wolfehopelee, Scottish Borders: A walk in a familiar fragment of woodland is pleasant enough before we see the first dead crowns
Tom Allan
17, Jan, 2023 @5:30 AM
Country diary: The abandoned farmhouse has new occupants now
Westshiels, Scottish Borders: On a thundery day I pick my way to this remote ruin that hasn’t been in human use for 70 years
Tom Allan
11, Aug, 2022 @4:30 AM
Country diary: The thatching reed is on the rise again
Totscore, Isle of Skye: I’m here to thatch a restored blackhouse, with material that grew from the embers of a devastating fire
Tom Allan
09, Jun, 2022 @4:30 AM
Country diary: This thatched roof must weather time and storms
South Uist, Outer Hebrides: We lay the new water reed over an old layer of marram grass – a technique known as ‘overcoating’
Tom Allan
20, Nov, 2021 @5:30 AM
Country diary: thatched roofs’ purple secret is revealed
Paignton harbour, Devon: Thatch is a welcoming home for many fungi, as it provides the damp conditions they thrive in
Tom Allan
20, Mar, 2021 @5:30 AM
Country diary: bad weather leaves thatchers with the short straw
Buckland in the Moor, Devon: An unpromising wheat harvest results in scruffy raw material for thatchers this year, but looks aren’t everything
Tom Allan
02, Nov, 2020 @5:30 AM
'Baby dragons' go on display for the first time in Slovenia
World’s first public exhibit of juvenile olms, mysterious underground amphibians, will open on 11 June in Slovenia’s famous Postojna Cave
Tom Allan
03, Jun, 2020 @5:30 AM
Country diary: last of the winter reed
Haddiscoe Island, Norfolk: Wally Mason may well be the last person in Britain to cut thatching reed the traditional way
Tom Allan
30, Mar, 2020 @4:30 AM
Country diary: the Cheviots are studded with ghostly patches
Note o’ the Gate, Scottish Borders: In this cloud the best views are underfoot, in luminous moss and spiky bog asphodel
Tom Allan
15, Jan, 2020 @5:30 AM
Country diary: it's a day for making eaves turds and windy bundles
Marley Head, Devon: When the weather is too bad to go on the roof, a thatcher can always find work to do in the barn
Tom Allan
09, Dec, 2019 @5:30 AM
Country diary: foragers search out the fruits of a fortuitous mistake
Cragbank, Scottish Borders: Cherry plum hedges were planted instead of blackthorn, but there are no regrets here
Tom Allan
16, Sep, 2019 @4:30 AM
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