Hello!

Hello Rose

Two months and no cob cottages or kitchen gardens, now that does surprise me a little bit. I shall give it some thought for you although the kitchen gardens are likely to be within the walls of properties I suspect, thus no access. Anyway, one can but try but don't hold your breath!!

 Hello and Hi to Ron, Lyn and Peter...

 Thanks for responding to my post. I guess my area of interest is a little specialized but I am still hoping!

Ron,  I expect I have to wait for kind property owners to share pictures of their own gardens...  no leaping of fences. Prehaps there are some garden enthusiasts with pictures from garden tours and the like?

Peter,  at the risk of sounding foolish; Is wattle and daub what tends to be used on the roofs of traditional cottages?  ...cob is sometimes spelt  "cobb" and expect it may be known by other names as well. Generally it consists of a mixture of straw and clay/mud. Does that sound familiar?  ...Anne Hathaways cottage is an example I believe.

                                                        Thanks,  Rose     
 

Hello and Welcome Rose.

might you be talking about "thatched! cottages? 

Wattle and daub houses are made with wattle, or wooden stakes woven together, something like those lattice fences, and daub is a mixture of clay and sand, and in the olden days dung. Dung is still used in some countries, it sounds awful smelly, but I hear it works like a dream.

Cob is a mixture of clay, sand, straw, soil mixed together with water. Supposed to be very effective.

I'm of the opinion that Peter would make a good 'Cob' builder, he's always slinging the mud! Some of the mud will stick of course but I can only hope that one day somebody will catch him unawares, throw a load of mud in building the wall without realising that he was standing just too close (we can but hope), by now the reinforcement if you like. Can you imagine? Arms and legs spread, mouth wide open declaring his innocence as usual! Boy I wish I could find a way of ridding POE of that man!!

Yes thats right Sue, about the wattle and daub. Straw was also used in the daub, but as you say cow dung, was used as that too contained straw. This type of filling was used a heck of a lot in Tuder houses. Once the filling dried, the smell of the dung disipated.

Not