Photography Shoot with a Master Thatcher

To continue with our series of shoots with artisan food producers & craftsmen we thought we would share a recent shoot that Mark did with a Thatcher down in rural Wiltshire.
Whilst we have been searching for suitable projects for Mark so much has been through word-of-mouth, twitter & chance meetings with people. Recently Mark spent a day teaching photography to small businesses in Wiltshire for use on their websites etc. On the day he chatted to a lady who mentioned that her husband was a thatcher & may be looking for new images for his website. Now, never one to rest on his laurels the next day when he was back at his desk Mark called Adam & later the same week he found himself atop a thatched roof! Mark spent the day with them whilst they thatched the beautiful thatched cottage. He captured images of them using the traditional tools such as the legget which is used to force the blunt ends of the reeds inwards to bring them into line & shearing hook which looks like a left-handed scythe, except it’s right-handed and is used to shear the ears off the reeds. Mark got some fantastic shots of the tools, the skills & the craftsmen themselves. Thatching truly is an ancient craft; the first thatch was in the Bronze age – 4,500 years ago. Thatched cottages and farm buildings were the norm in rural Britain for a millennium or more. Adam Nash, who Mark spent the day with, is a Master Thatcher & is based in Crockerton, Wiltshire and thatches in Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset.  You will see examples of his thatching scattered around the counties including Salisbury, Amesbury, Andover, Heytesbury, Tisbury, Shaftesbury & Warminster www.adamnashthatcher.co.uk