Thatching

Under Monty Don's watchful eye, three hopefuls who are passionate about learning to thatch are put through their paces by the country's leading practitioners. To the untrained eye, thatch is just straw spread out on a roof, but there is a reason why it takes apprentices four years to master the necessary skills. As the apprentices quickly find out, not only is it immensely tough physical labour, a fully waterproof thatched roof is also a highly complex and subtle thing to pull off.