Like many of us, we have been waiting to get back to family and friends after some very challenging years. The Dutch government finally eased the travel restrictions to such an extent that it wasn’t too cumbersome to travel to the Netherlands from the UK and I took the opportunity to go ‘back home’ after almost two and a half years.

Not only did I finally get to see and hug my family again, I also took the opportunity to visit some of my professional roots, which go back to my great-grandparents’ house on my father’s side. This tudor-style, wattle and daub construction is typical for the South Limburg region of the Netherlands and extends into Germany, Belgium and France. This Euregio as it’s called, shows more architectural similarities to the French Napoleonic occupation in the late 17 and early 1800s than the western provinces of North and South Holland.

It comprises of a relatively straight-forward timber frame structure. Elm matts were woven to fill in the wall areas, into which loam earth was packed. These walls were then plastered with lime plaster and painted in lime wash. The timber was either whitewashed in lime or, more often, painted in wood tar or linseed oil paint.

About 15-20 years ago, questions were started being asked why these century-old buildings started to show signs of structural decay, which hadn’t ever happened before. It turns out that the rotting timber and decaying lime walls coincided with the introduction of plastic, film-forming paints. These new types of paint introduced after WW2, were quick to apply and very cheap to manufacture in thousands of colours and shades and tints. Unfortunately, people initially didn’t realise that these non-wicking and non-breathable paints trapped moisture, causing this structural decay.

The new owners of my great-grandparents’ house fortunately had the wherewithal to use traditional materials for the restoration of this lovely cottage with baking house. It is such a wonderful feeling that this home now has the best chance of surviving another few centuries. We truly are just custodians of the buildings we live in.