Spiralling grain prices could mean that the classic country cottage may never look the same again.

The rocketing cost of English wheat straw, the traditional material used by the country's master thatchers, has led many to seek cheaper alternatives or to try new hybrid varieties of straw.

Rising commodity prices have encouraged farmers to abandon growing wheat for thatch in favour of the more lucrative grains. These higher costs come at a time when the industry is already beset by a bad harvest and a skills shortage, with some thatchers booked up to four years in advance.

Thatchers are concerned that more costly repairs and re-thatching work will put off customers, many of whom are struggling with higher bills and the economic slowdown.

According to Tim New, a director of the Thatched Owners Group, which represents 37,000 owners of thatched properties, the price of thatching straw has risen from £600 a tonne last summer to about £1,500 today. He believes that some areas of the country are facing a critical shortage of straw and he favours using alternatives such as Triticale, a wheat and rye hybrid, as well as other straws from Hungary, Romania and Ukraine. Water reed from Poland is also being used as a cheaper option.

Many thatchers are putting pressure on local authorities to relax building regulations and allow other kinds of straw to be used. The threat to the traditional way of thatching has even reached Parliament: Sir George Young, Conservative MP for North West Hampshire, has urged ministers to intervene after he was approached by thatchers and homeowners.

The East Anglian Master Thatchers Association has played down shortages, however, and has asked the authorities to stick with traditional English straw. It says that supplies are shorter in the West Country.

Ben Thomas, a 38-year-old thatcher based in Gloucestershire, said that he had been forced to take time off and postpone a number of straw jobs due to shortages. “The dealers I work with ran out in May,” he said.

Mr Thomas estimates that his straw costs have increased by at least a third in the past year, which has forced him to raise his costs for the first time ever.

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