Careful work of town's only thatcher
IF YOU'VE walked along Waterside recently, you can't fail to have noticed a thatcher at work on the roof of one of Knaresborough's landmarks and probably most photographed properties.
Piers Young has travelled from North Uist in the Hebrides to work on repairs to the thatch roof of Manor Cottage at the bottom of Waterbag Bank, the only thatched property in Knaresborough.
Mr Young met a thatcher from York, in the Hebrides, who asked if he would be interested in working in Yorkshire and as a result, he has now been in the area for eight months, working on three properties.
The cottage was last thatched in the 1960s say the owners and Mr Young is using water reed for the repairs.
He said: “There is no shortage of water reed. I get mine from a reed bed in North Uist.
The work is very skilled and all done ‘by eye’.
Mr Young added: “I’ve worked in the building trade, but I’ve been a thatcher for three years and see thatching as a craft.
“We’re always learning.”
The job is expected to take four weeks to complete.
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Weather for Harrogate
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -4 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
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