National Trust straw building

Keywords National Trust, Cob building

To mark the millennium the National Trust has gone back to basics and erected a summerhouse built of cob. The building has been constructed in the garden of the 550 year old Marker's cottage in Broadclyst village on the Trust's Killerton estate, near Exeter. There are more than 40,000 cob buildings remaining in Devon(see Steve Staveley's book review in this issue) and in the search for sustainable construction there is of course much renewed interest in earth and straw buildings.