Thatched Cottage

Thatching

Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge, rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of the vegetation stays dry and is densely packed—trapping air—thatching also functions as insulation. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates. Thatch is still employed by builders in developing countries, usually with low-cost local vegetation. By contrast, in some developed countries it is the choice of some affluent people who desire a rustic look for their home, would like a more ecologically friendly roof, or who have purchased an originally thatched abode.

Cottage

A cottage during England's feudal period was the holding by a cottager of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide some form of service to the manorial lord. However, in time cottage just became the general term for a small house. In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cosy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location and not necessarily in England. The cottage orné, often quite large and grand residences built by the nobility, dates back to a movement of "rustic" stylised cottages of the late 18th and early 19th century during the Romantic movement.

thatched

Verb

1. simple past and past participle of thatch

Adjective

1. Covered or roofed with thatch.
2. Having a specified kind of hair.

cottage

Noun

1. A small house.
2. A seasonal home of any size or stature, a recreational home or a home in a remote location.

Verb

1. To stay at a seasonal home, to go cottaging.
2. To have homosexual sex in a public lavatory; to practice cottaging.