The Thatchers years (From Western Telegraph)

The Thatchers years

Historical reconstruction specialist Alan Jones has marked his 20th year of cropping reed beds in the Nevern estuary.

Alan uses the reeds in the construction of buildings of a historical and traditional nature - preferring to use local reeds and timber rather than buying from abroad.

He initially trained as a carpenter, but became interested in thatching in 1982 when he helped to rebuild the ancient hill fort village at Castell Henllys.

The construction techniques were the same as those used by the its Celtic inhabitants.

As Alan helped to build the first and largest roundhouse, he learned the skills of the thatchers employed on the project. After that, he undertook the thatching of the whole fort himself. Twenty years on, he is a master thatcher and much in demand for his thatching as well as other skills - in coppicing, reed bed management, timber framing building, earth wall building, traditional stone renovation and straw bale building.

Over the past six months his skills have been used in a major renovation project at a cottage in Lampeter. The owner, architectural writer Greg Stevenson, is carrying out a historical renovation of the whole property and Alans work has attracted interest from St Ffagans, the Welsh museum of folk life near Cardiff, which asked him to thatch a couple of roundhouses there.

Alan has also been asked to participate in the construction of two buildings at the Eden project, in Cornwall, this summer.

The father-of-three, who has also worked all over Europe, says he is pleased to see the growing interest in sustainable development. He will also be doing some shows over the summer with the West Wales ECO Centre in Newport.

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Volunteers from West Wales Eco Centre help Alan harvest the reeds. He is pictured with Jamie Ashe.