Joe Thornton Master Thatcher

Joe Thornton is a thatcher based at Bricklehampton, at the foot of Bredon Hill, with more than 20 years of experience. Most of his work is in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Warwickshire. He favours environmentally sound materials and buys his wheat straw from a Devon grower with whom he has a long-standing arrangement. Alongside rethatching and ridging, he makes thatched animals and other decorative features, his signature piece being a mother duck with ducklings. In 2017/18 one of his roofs took first place in a national thatched property competition.