Fairy Cottage

You can find the English thatched cottage in most counties in England but especially in the once major corn growing counties.

Thatch was used as a form of roofing for all types of cottages, the half-timbered cottages in the woods, the stone cottages of the Cotswolds and the cob cottages of the south west of England.

Some of the once major corn growing counties are listed below, here you can find the English country thatch cottage: Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex,....

The English thatched cottage is a beautiful adornment to the English countryside so much so that it attracted the attention of connoisseurs of the “cult of the picturesque”

The thatched cottage was becomming a part of the English country estate by the nighteenth century when the gentry wanted a taste of the good life and the simple pleasures of cottage living.

The humble cot became the Cottage Ornée. These cottages are large by comparison and no money has been spared to build them.

Thatch for the first time was being used on homes of the wealthy. The Cottage Ornée is a part of England's country paradise.

Thatching has not changed much since mediaeval times and modern advances have not helped.

The modern strains of wheat are two short and the combine harvester cuts the stalks too high and makes a mess of the straw.

Thatching needs whole straws so that they can be aligned in bundles to place on the roof. For this the straw needs to be harvested by hand.

When thatch ceased to be the cheapest form of roofing because tile, especially Welsh slate in the 1820's became available the English thatched cottage began its decline.

The railways soon made building materials freely available and the builder did not need to use what was close at hand but could choose as he pleased.