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a : By CINDY MAHAN
KanMhaniiock Newi Staff Writer I Colin McGhee, a master thatcher from England, was flown over to Virginia two years ago to thatch a Jjouse in Orlean. He ended up staying in the United States, fulfilling a longtime dream. j * “I wanted to come to America since I started thatching when I was 16. I love America; it is so big,” he said. 1 He grew up just a few miles from Scotland, where the only work was at an atomic power station. His father is a nuclear physicist and still fives in England.
Now 34, Mr. McGhee started out living in Amissville, but is now a resident of Warrenton. His shop, however, is located in the warehouse on U.S. 522 in Flint Hill. When he’s there, he displays several of his birdhouses and mailboxes on the large porch out front.
Mr. McGhee’s business is called Little Tudors. He has been very successful in building thatched birdhouses, bat boxes, owl boxes, birdfeeders, mailboxes, and even dog kennels. He also builds garden seats and poolside bars. The little tudors are constructed of cedar, and are thatched with either reed, which grows in wetlands, or rye straw, obtained from Jeffersonton. ; Mr. McGhee says that thatched roofs have a life expectancy of from 60 to 70 years, and that there are over 50,000 of them in the United Kingdom. Because of the thickness of the thatch, the inside of the house
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