Chris Tomkins Master Thatcher

Chris Tomkins and his team have around 30 years of thatching experience and work mainly across Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire, with occasional projects elsewhere in the UK and overseas. They thatch in Norfolk reed, combed wheat and long straw, in both traditional and modern fixing methods. Recorded work includes stripping failed coatwork, renewing roof timbers with hand-split hazel or chestnut battens, fixing water reed directly to rafters or sparring it over existing thatch, new straw ridges and overhauls of older slopes. The business works with the Weald and Downland Living Museum near Chichester on growing and harvesting thatching wheat, and has thatched Court Barn there. It also advises on insurance, planning, listed building consent and fire precautions, and keeps thatchers on site each working day until a roof is complete. It states its thatchers are members of the National Society of Master Thatchers.