From Field to Roof DVD: A Farmer, Master Thatcher

Description

The work and activities in the year of a Farmer, Master Thatcher.

All that is involved in being a Farmer/Master Thatcher.

From growing, harvesting and combing long stem wheat – to the skills involved in putting thatch onto a roof.

With over an hour and a half of content, this covers a year in the working life of a Farmer, Master Thatcher and shows how thatching is done as well as the use of classic and vintage binders, tractors and threshing drums to bring in the harvest of their own long stem straw or reed to thatch with across cottages and houses in Oxfordshire.

We followed the Oxfordshire based Farmer/Master thatcher Andy Bowman and his team as they sowed, harvested and combed their long stem wheat, then used the combed straw to thatch roofs all over the county.

So not only are the skills of thatching seen and explained, but also the harvesting of the crop of long stem wheat with what were some of the last binders to be made.

Then the whole process of threshing and combing, not to get the grain but to produce the combed straw or ‘reed’ needed for the thatching side of their business.

We also took a visit to the Iron Age village at Butser Ancient Farm, to see how our Iron Age ancestors probably put thatch onto their round houses.

All farmers have a busy time and are often at the mercy of the elements, but a Farmer, Master Thatcher has to contend with all of that as well as working on the roofs of houses and cottages throughout the year.

Approx. 95 minutes.

This dvd is being sold on behalf of and with full permission of the copyright owner – Avalon Video Productions.