'illegal' mock-Tudor castle he tried to hide behind 40ft hay bales

adouglasmhor

harryhound wrote: »

The cob (?) building might be several hundred years old, if it has been regularly maintained, but the thatch probably isn't 50 years old.

OK point taken, I should have got that.

harryhound

I had a long chat with a thatcher over "lunch" several years ago; he was doing an old stone cottage in a "retirement" village and I was hanging a farm gate.

It had not really occurred to me that "sustainable" thatching materials can now be shipped half way round the world (and arrive with exotic creepy crawlies or their eggs in the consignment)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1553468/Thatching-revival-rescues-ancient-craft.html

adouglasmhor

I met a woman about 12 years ago who collected reeds and rushes for thatchers in Yorkshire, she had a special boat like a big punt and had the rights to gather them on the Ouse, Ure and Swale. Strange job.

hippyadam

adouglasmhor wrote: »

I met a woman about 12 years ago who collected reeds and rushes for thatchers in Yorkshire, she had a special boat like a big punt and had the rights to gather them on the Ouse, Ure and Swale. Strange job.

I'd do that job! Pottering about on the river in a punt sounds like fun (even if its raining!)

dane-katie

Wonder if he has ripped his house down yet? my house was built in the green belt, got full planning permission everything there is ways around getting planning permission in green belt areas

harryhound

hippyadam wrote: »

I'd do that job! Pottering about on the river in a punt sounds like fun (even if its raining!)

In January?

Is it not a winter job?

harryhound

Looks like the new series of "Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" on C4 will feature some places built in the Green Belt.

adouglasmhor

harryhound wrote: »

In January?

Is it not a winter job?

I would imagine if you were not careful with all the snow melt this year on the Ouse and Trent System you would be halfway to Holland before you knew what you were doing.

Silvercar2

dane-katie wrote: »

Wonder if he has ripped his house down yet? my house was built in the green belt, got full planning permission everything there is ways around getting planning permission in green belt areas

How did you get permission? Did you go for an eco house?

harryhound

To Quote from the "Radio Times":

What you make of this will depend on whether you regard planning laws on what people can and can't build a pettifogging bureaucracy - "the little grey people" at the council, as one of the subjects puts it - or a plank of civilised living.

The "grey people" quote comes from an entrepreneur, who built a home for his elderly mother in green belt Surrey, but made it a few metres bigger than the council had approved.... Battles ensued, culminating in bulldozers moving to demolish the structure - a dreadful sight but not quite the return to Nazi Germany the victims claim.

Melody Howsee's likeable film captures three stories of planning grief in touching, sometimes cringe making detail:

[Straw bale home on agricultural land / 6' stone lions on Pevensey marshes / "granny flat"].