WHERWELL has a new 'tourist attraction' - a young blonde woman perched high on a thatched roof in the grounds of the White Lion public house.

Causing all the stir - coachloads of visitors stand and take photographs - is Emmeline Couch who has decided that the ancient art of thatching is the one she wants to pursue.

She now clambers up ladders with bundles of straw and clippers to put an attractive and waterproof new covering on houses, cottages and barns throughout the county.

At 23 and with some exciting travels behind her - including working as a cow girl in Australia and a landscape gardener in Spain - she has decided that the outdoor life in England is for her.

Her new career, however, took off by accident. Her boyfriend, now her boss and mentor Paul Williams, comes from a family of thatchers, and one morning when he was about to set off for work from Goodworth Clatford Emmeline, who was living with her parents in the village, stepped in to help because he did not have a labourer available.

"The blokes did not last," he said, "but Emmeline just took to it and she's better than any of them."

"It was only supposed to be for a week," Emmeline explained, "but I loved it and it just went from there. I just loved laying the straw, although I'm much, much slower than Paul, and I've now been thatching for a year."

Her ambition is to be 'signed off' as a master thatcher, something which Paul, who started in the trade when he was 16, has not bothered with until now.

He's very complimentary about his partner in business, even predicting that she will become a better thatcher than he is. "She's got a good eye and she's got far more guts than me," he admitted.

Emmeline, however, confesses that she's not too gutsy when roofs reveal nasty surprises under old and decaying straw.

"When the rats come out, then I do my girly bit and get off the roof in a hurry."

Her parents have accepted her unusual choice of occupation after some initial surprise.

"Father has got used to it and has accepted I'm not going to be a secretary sitting at a desk," she said.

Landlady of the White Lion, Pat Stent, said the customers enjoyed seeing Emmeline working as a thatcher and the beautiful work that she and Paul were achieving.

"She is a lovely girl, absolutely wonderful and works hard," she said.

To contact Paul and Emmeline ring 01264 323554.