Thatching is one of the oldest forms of roofing and dates back for thousands of years and has been used across the globe with different materials from banana leaves in the Amazon and coconut palm fronds in the Caribbean to Savannah grasses in Africa and anything from oats to bracken in England. Nowadays in England you tend to only see 3 types still being used: water or wheat reed and long straw. Both water and wheat reed are cut with a binder and then combed to give the appearance or reed, whilst providing a compact even texture across the roof. Straw is threshed so that the butts and ears and mixed together, this gives a rounded almost “shaggy” appearance to the roof – very contrasting to the reed roofs. Thatch will normally last from 30-50 years, but this is very dependent on the skill of the thatcher, quality of the materials he uses and the local climate conditions.