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English thatched cottages for sale


Beautiful thatched cottages for sale from under £250,000 – Country Life

The idea of living in a thatched cottage in an idyllic spot in the English countryside is a dream for so many of us; we take a look at some of the most alluring thatched houses for sale at the moment.

 

Itchen Stoke, Alresford, Hampshire — £1,050,000

In the heart of the Itchen Valley, not far from Winchester, is this glorious Grade II listed cottage where heavy thatched dormers brush against box hedging which frames the latticed windows.

There’s something magical about a property like this, which looks as though it has been part of the landscape for eons.

Inside, the interiors would benefit from some modernisation, whilst the well-established front and rear gardens offer a tranquil, private setting.

For sale with Hellards Estate Agents. See more pictures of this property or request further details from the agent.

Find more property near Itchen Stoke, Alresford, Hampshire.

Appleton, Oxford — £395,000

Proving that good things come in small packages is this cute and compact two-bed home which offers 675sq ft of quaint interiors.

The symmetrical timber framed exteriors give way to an open plan living/dining space downstairs, a small kitchen, and two bedrooms upstairs.

With parking spaces for two cars, an enclosed rear garden and a private front garden accessed via a gate, this really is a compact, but perfectly-formed home.

For sale with Thomas Merrifield. See more pictures of this property or request further details from the agent.

Find more property near Appleton, Oxford.

Leighton Buzzard — £1,350,000

This beautiful thatched house is thought to date from the 15th century, whilst the adjacent Scandinavian style lodge is a more recent addition.

With five bedrooms in the main house and a further four in the lodge, this property is certainly not short on space.

Inglenook fireplaces, a large Aga, timber frames and exposed beams create a cosy, period charm in the main house, whilst the lodge offers a more contemporary, minimalist feel — perfect then, for contrasting tastes.

For sale with Michael Graham. See more pictures of this property or request further details from the agent.

Find more property near Leighton Buzzard.

Rickling — £1,200,000

Located in the popular hamlet of Rickling, not far from Quendon, and surrounded by open farmland is Church End, a sprawling thatched property with a unique interconnecting hallway to connect two separate cottages.

Grade II listed, the property amounts to over 3,000sq ft of wonderful accommodation, where vaulted ceilings, exposed timbers, huge brick inglenook fireplaces and cosy bedrooms can be found.

Outside are 2.75 acres of mature gardens and grounds that are easily maintainable being mostly established trees and lawn.

For sale with Cheffins. See more pictures of this property or request further details from the agent.

Find more property near Rickling.

Nuthampstead — £1,400,000

Just a few miles down the road from the previous property is this wonderful thatch and weather bordered home which is as immaculate on the outside as it is inside.

Where some thatched houses — especially those that are listed — can appear dark due to small windows and low ceilings, this place does not. In fact, its bright, clean interiors are one of the main focal points, with each room flooded with plenty of sunlight.

The large lawned garden and terrace area is the perfect place for sunny al fresco entertaining, whilst across the road is a paddock amounting to 2.26 acres and a stable block in need of replacement.

For sale with Cheffins. See more pictures of this property or request further details from the agent.

Find more property near Nuthampstead.

Puddington, Tiverton — £235,000

Whilst the thought of opening any of the cupboards in the current kitchen feels us with slight trepidation, there’s no denying that this property in Puddington has plenty of character within its curved walls.

Corner Cottage is unusual in its layout and would make for an interesting renovation project for anyone willing to take it on.

Latch and brace doors and plenty of exposed timbers feature throughout the two-bed house, whilst the charming village of Puddington is just eight miles from Tiverton.

For sale with Diamond Estate Agents. See more pictures of this property or request further details from the agent.

Find more property near Puddington, Tiverton.

Ferndown, Dorset — £600,000

The exaggerated semi-circular thatched dormers that frame the latticed windows at this semi-detached house in Dorset create an almost hobbit-like looking dwelling.

Built as one large cottage in the early 1900’s for a local entrepreneur, the property has since been split into two houses, resulting in this lovely three-bed home.

On the ground floor is a huge open plan living/dining room with access out onto the garden with a sheltered terrace, lawn and summer house.

For sale with Brewer & Brewer. See more pictures of this property or request further details from the agent.

Find more property near Ferndown, Dorset.

East Cholderton, Andover — £1,390,000

Sat behind a picket fence is one of the most picturesque properties in this line up which comes in the shape of this utterly delightful 17th century cottage near the hamlet of East Cholderton in Hampshire.

The interiors are also nothing short of impressive, having been seamlessly restored and extended by the current owners to blend the older parts of the house with more modern touches. The kitchen especially, with its original limestone flooring and butler sink, is a wonderful, bright space.

Outside is half an acre of quintessential English gardens, where wildflowers, lawns, rose borders and a pond help create a truly idyllic scene.

For sale with Charters Alresford. See more pictures of this property or request further details from the agent.

Find more property near East Cholderton, Andover.

Collingbourne Ducis, Marlborough — £425,000

Just when we thought a thatched cottage couldn’t be any quainter — in struts this two-bed cottage in the pretty village of Collingbourne Ducis, near Marlborough.

With cosy charm and quirky corners in abundance, the property is wonderfully proportioned, with the current interiors showcasing real cottage core.

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In the magical garden is an apple tree and shed — which could be used as an artist studio — said to have been donated by the Queen to mark her coronation. Elsewhere is a vegetable patch, cutting garden and little winding paths to various seating areas.

For sale with Megan Baker Estate Agents. See more pictures of this property or request further details from the agent.

Find more property near Collingbourne Ducis, Marlborough.

Credit: Knight Frank

Catch up on the best country houses for sale this week that have come to the market via Country Life.

Thatched cottages for sale – in pictures | Money

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Main image: Being close to a pub is high up on home movers’ wish lists. This one could be your home. Photograph: Hamptons

Topics

English Village Thatched Roofs - British Rambling

You may have noticed that many houses in Britain have a proper name instead of a soulless number. This is because the British treat their homes with reverent love. Repair and improvement of the house and garden is a kind of national sport here. A lot of people prefer to live in old rustic "hobbit houses" with thatched roofs, small windows, huge fireplaces and very low ceilings.

Thatched cottage, England

Similar thatched cottages are called thatched cottages in English.

In Britain, the tradition of thatching the roof of one's house is thousands of years old and goes back to the Bronze Age. In those days, hut houses required a light but warm roof; a heavy roof in the long run, the walls simply could not stand it.

Thatched roof house, England

Historically, the choice of roofing material was determined by its availability in a particular area, since the transportation of building materials was expensive. In different regions, one could find roofs made of water reed, wheat straw, reeds, broom, sedge, heather, etc.

Thatched house, England

The most common material in the south of England today is long-stalked wheat straw. In the East of England region in the east of the country (counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire) mainly water reed is used. To cover a medium-sized roof, you will need reed from 5 acres (about 200 acres) of reed floodplain. Large reed beds are uncommon in England, so almost 80% of the reed used in the UK today is imported from Turkey, Eastern Europe and China. The most valuable among the Thatchers (thatched roofers), however, is the Norfolk reed. Unlike a thatched roof, which can be repaired in separate sections, a thatched roof must be rebuilt from scratch each time.

Thatched house, England

Wheat for roofing purposes is today specially grown, separate from agricultural wheat, which has softer stalks and is not always suitable for roofing.

Thatched house, England

In England, thatched roofs were common until the end of the 19th century. However, with the development of rail links, cheap slate from Wales became widely available throughout Britain. At the same time, agricultural harvesting equipment severely damaged the wheat stalk, making it unsuitable for roofing.

House with a thatched roof, England

So gradually the thatched roof became a sign of the poverty of the homeowner. However, in the second half of the 20th century, due to the renewed interest in organic materials, thatched roofs received a new start in life.

Thatched house, England

Throughout the kingdom there are currently about 65,000 thatched houses, the largest number of any country in Western Europe. At the same time, there are only 1,000 professional Thatchers - masters of thatched roofs.

Thatched roof house, England

Covering a thatched roof is a very laborious process that requires special skills, many years of training and angelic patience; the secrets of this craft are passed down in England within the family. This is a very closed business, which you can’t just get into from the street. Unfortunately, this is not taught in colleges, but it takes 5 official years of training and the successful passing of the strictest inspection to finally be accredited for independent work. A good Thatcher is literally worth its weight in gold here. Sometimes, it is necessary to enroll in the queue for them several years in advance. The usual practice of waiting is 18 months.

House with a thatched roof, England

But in addition to the complexity, technical complexity and uniqueness, it is also a very expensive pleasure. And if earlier a straw roof was considered a sign of poverty, today only well-to-do people can afford it. The average price for such a roof ranges from £250 to £300 per 1 square meter.

Thatched roof house, England

A good quality straw roof made by a qualified thatcher can last about 20-25 years, and a thatched roof can last up to 50 years.

Thatched house, England

Each Thatcher has his own technique for laying thatch or thatch, the details of which are usually passed down strictly within the same family or company. But there are some general principles.

Thatched house, England

Thus, sheaves of straw are stacked in three layers from the bottom up and fastened with thin steel wire. Traditionally, the old base layer is retained if it is in good condition and new layers are placed on top of it. Thus, on the roofs of some English houses, a base layer of thatch, laid as early as 500 years ago, has been preserved. This made it possible to know what types of materials were used in the Medieval period.

Thatched house, England

If the roof is from scratch, then the base layer is attached to the wooden frame.

Sheaves are fastened together in several ways. One of the methods resembles ordinary sewing, where steel wire is threaded into a special arc-shaped needle. One of the Thatchers is on the roof and the other is in the house. Passing each other a needle, they stitch the sheaves together. This is a rather time-consuming process, and today it is rarely used.

Thatched house, England

Another way is to pierce with screws. The screws are pre-attached to the wire that holds the sheaves together, and then screwed into the wooden frame. This is one of the fastest methods. Fastening with special nails is also common. This method is identical to the screw method.

Thatched house, England

After the sheaves are laid down, the reeds or straw are knocked down with a special shovel, which allows all the layers to be completely evened out.

Thatched house, England

A skate is added on top. Skate is a real "horse" Thatcher, which distinguishes his style from other colleagues. Someone leaves a special pattern, someone adds straw birds, someone curled up a cat. You can easily recognize Thatcher's handwriting by the straw skate.

Thatched house, England

After the thatch is laid, the roof is covered with a tight mesh.

Below are links to videos of thatched thatched roofing:

Video example of thatched thatched roofing. Part I.

Video example of thatched reed roofing. Part II.

Video example of thatched thatched roofing. Part III.

Video example of thatched thatched roofing. Part IV.

Thatched house, England

In England, all thatched houses are protected by the Historic Buildings Act, which prohibits the replacement of a thatched roof with a conventional one.

Thatched house, England

By the way, if your thatched paradise burns down by negligence, it will cost the insurance company £400,000 to restore it. Unless, of course, you have previously insured your house in a specialized company.

Thatched house, England

According to statistics, 50-60 thatched houses burn down in Britain every year. But in spite of everything, the British devotedly love their “chocolate-boxed” houses, as they affectionately call them.

thatchthatched cottagesthatched roofvillagesvillages england english villagevillagesvillages englandthatched roofthatched roofs of the english provinces0108

Publication date: 20.04.2012
Views: 5998

Straw house is real gathered a group of active supporters of ecological housing construction.

In the large hall, in the most prominent place, straw bales appeared as an exhibit, in relation to which the speakers at the "round tables" and seminars "environmentalists" did not spare enthusiastic words.

The topic of thatched houses unexpectedly surfaced in Novosibirsk four years ago, when a group of active supporters of ecological housing construction gathered within the framework of the Cottage-2008 exhibition. In the large hall, in the most prominent place, straw bales appeared as an exhibit, in relation to which the “environmentalists” who spoke at the “round tables” and seminars did not spare enthusiastic words. In their opinion, it was not just a "wonderful material" for the construction of individual houses, but even "the material of the future." Unfortunately, for some visitors of the exhibition, who were not, so to speak, in the history of the issue, such enthusiasm for the straw produced the impression of some kind of intellectual insanity. Reminds me of the tale of the three little pigs. And someone even thought that straw houses were just another Russian eccentricity.

American pioneers

In fact, a good example of straw house building was set by the Americans in their time. It happened back in the century before last, when the settlers mastered the expanses of the Wild West. With a tree in the endless prairies there was tension, but there was plenty of hay and straw. Therefore, straw began to be used as a building material. They laid out walls from bales, fastened them with stakes, pulled them together with ropes from above, then plastered the walls from the inside and outside. The result was an inexpensive, environmentally friendly and also energy-efficient home. Modern Americans, it must be said, have not forgotten this experience. And now even in this country there are enthusiasts who, for the sake of living in harmony with nature, go to sparsely populated places and build houses there according to ancient technology. In the USA, even special manuals on straw house building are issued, where the entire technological cycle is described in detail. Remarkable detail. Since the walls in such houses are fairly thick, wide window sills in the form of benches are specially arranged so that a person can sit near the window and admire the landscape, think about the high.


Straw block house wall - in its original,
frameless "American" version.

By the way, in America straw was used not only to build houses, but also quite respectable public buildings - schools and hospitals. As it turned out, even in England, where the fairy tale about the three little pigs was composed, straw was also used for construction. The same houses are being built in Germany, Finland, Poland and Belarus.

Why is she so good?

It is believed that in straw houses the microclimate is so healthy that it supposedly has a beneficial effect on cancer patients. In Belarus, for example, Chernobyl survivors were rehabilitated in such houses. With regard to purely physical characteristics, the straw block has the qualities for which wood is valued: vapor permeability combined with high thermal insulation properties. A straw wall not only "breathes", but also reliably saves heat. A house made of straw blocks is identical in these parameters to a log house made of very thick logs.

In a sense, straw is indeed an ideal material. True, she, like a tree, is afraid of fire and dampness. In addition, any living creature that can settle in such a structure causes concern. However, domestic "environmentalists" tried to dispel doubts in this regard. According to them, a wall protected on all sides by a layer of plaster will reliably protect the house from both fire and decay. At the mentioned exhibition, an experiment was even demonstrated: they tried to set fire to a plastered block with a blowtorch. The test was successful - the straw was not damaged.

As for mice, there are tricks to protect against them. For example, a special mesh is installed below, through which the rodent is not able to climb into the wall. In addition, some believe that the attempt of the animal to get inside the block is suicidal for him, since there, inside, compression occurs like in rubber. The mouse will simply be squeezed from all sides.

Novosibirsk enthusiasts

In order to prove their assertions in practice, in 2008, on the initiative of the Siberian Settlement Center, "environmentalists" built a house of straw blocks on the territory of the Novosibirsk Assembly College. Yuri Lapin, academician of the International Academy of Ecology, who arrived from Moscow, advised the construction. The technology has improved somewhat. German screw piles were used as the foundation, a wooden frame was installed on them, then the roof was mounted. And only then the surfaces from all sides - from the sides, top and bottom - were laid out with straw blocks. After that, the walls were plastered and faced.

It was planned to build another house in the same place, but without a frame, according to the old technology. But there was no sponsorship money. The authorities, as we understand, reacted indifferently to such enthusiasm. The then head of the construction department, Vladimir Anisimov, with slight irony, suggested that his subordinates go and see the "three little pigs". At this point, the attention to straw housing construction from the side of high authorities was exhausted.

But the enthusiasm of our "environmentalists" did not decrease. As it turned out, the Novosibirsk region had its own pioneers in this business for a long time. The first house of straw blocks was built on his site by Igor Ogorodnikov, director of Ecodom LLC. This is a kind of first experimental sample. However, the work continues. According to Igor Alexandrovich, such a demonstration straw house will soon be open to visitors at the test site in Lozhki. This will most likely happen in the middle of summer.

"Innovative" straw

Those straw blocks that we talked about here are the "product" that comes out directly from under the combine harvester, without any additional processing. Of course, such a block has an impressively low thermal conductivity, however, as we understand it, it is quite loose and therefore subject to compression. In addition, it does not have sufficiently smooth surfaces, which also creates additional difficulties during installation. In general, the material, in a sense, is “raw”, and suggests itself for improvement in production conditions.

However, some domestic "ecologists" object to such technical intervention. In their opinion, the "natural" straw block is good in itself, and should not be considered as a raw material. Nevertheless, technologists have been working with this material for quite a long time. In Soviet times, "straw" was invented - pressed straw, fastened into separate shields. Straw was once used to insulate buildings. Today it has been supplanted by all sorts of mineral and synthetic heaters. Solomit has become exotic. But the Europeans went further. Even before the war in Sweden, the technology for manufacturing high-strength slabs from Stramit pressed straw was invented. At 19In 1945, an English company received the right to manufacture such plates, which to this day issues licenses for the production of this material. Stramit slabs are good because they allow you to build prefabricated houses - by analogy with a sandwich panel.

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