Heed the reed: thatcher scientist on mission to revive craft

Breitenbrunn, Austria (AFP) April 30, 2023

Once upon a time many homes in the picturesque Burgenland wine-growing region of eastern Austria were thatched. But now Jacobus van Hoorne's house is the only one in the entire neighbourhood with a reed roof. And to get it approved he had to do battle for two years with the local authorities, culminating in having to set fire to a model thatched house to prove that his home wouldn't be a