A LANDMARK building alongside the A38 Worcester Road at Wychbold has been given a facelift.

The building, at Webbs Garden Centre, has been re-thatched for the first time since it was built by Bromsgrove building firm Braziers in 1936.

During the work, which took 13 weeks to complete using 4,000 bundles of reed, a half-mile of steel rod and 1,200 steel hooks, a small disc was discovered bearing the names of the original thatchers.

Marigold Webb, the wife of the garden centre's managing director, Richard, said thatcher Nigel Saunders, from Alfrick, near Worcester, had done a fine job.

"We are delighted," she said. "It is important that old and interesting buildings such as the one we have here are maintained in good order for future generations to enjoy."

Before the award-winning garden centre as we know it today came into being, the building was constructed as a chalet for visitors to what was then a seed trial ground.

A perfect vantage point to view the vivid patchwork of colour presented by the millions of blooms was from the top of a double decker bus.

The chalet cost £2,714/12/6 (£2,714.62.5p) to build. A feature is the floor, made from various timbers obtained from major colonies in the British Empire at that time.

The high quality reed, and, it is believed, the thatchers who did the work, came from Salhouse, in Norfolk.

The 37 acres of land on which it was built was purchased by Major Harcourt Webb in 1935 from George Jackson, the owner of Wychbold Court.

Philip Brazier, the boss of the family-run building firm at that time, used the same reed to roof his own home, appropriately called Thatcholme, in Conway Road, Bromsgrove.

Sadly, a Guy Fawkes rocket destroyed the roof some 20 years ago. The house was sold to Bromsgrove School in 1970.