RIVING around Britain, from top to bottom or side to side, the appearance of our villages changes dramatically. Leaving the moors and flower-studded banks of Devon and Cornwall for the pale-green hills of Dorset, the farmhouses, cottages, barns and stables are clearly different and, continuing through the Downs and Thames valley to the Cotswolds, the scene changes again. The shifts continue all the way to John O’Groats. It’s in the smaller buildings that the local vernacular is most noticeable. In architectural terms, that means construction according to local customs using easily available materials and often built
