Drone surveys in Crediton, flown by the surveyor who writes them

Crediton is about fifteen minutes from Exeter, which makes it one of the easiest towns on this list to get to and one where a single small job is worth flying on its own. The Creedy valley runs between steep red sandstone hills and the surrounding farmland is some of the most productive in Devon.

The work here divides between the long Georgian and Victorian high street, the cob and thatch cottages in the surrounding lanes, and the farmhouses and barn conversions across the rural hinterland. Three quite different building traditions inside twenty minutes of each other.

Thatch is a real presence here and it is one of the coverings that benefits most from being looked at from above. A thatched roof is assessed on the depth of the coat, the condition of the ridge, the wear around chimneys and dormers, the netting, and the fixings at the eaves. From the ground you can see the eaves and guess at the rest.

The ridge goes first, and in this valley it goes faster than it would on higher ground. The valley traps damp air, which is hard on thatch ridges, and a ridge that is breaking down lets water into the coat beneath it where it does real damage rather than sitting on top where it does none.

An aerial inspection does not replace a master thatcher and the report says as much. What it does is give an owner a dated photographic record of coat and ridge condition, which is worth having when the quotes come in and worth more again the following year when comparing.

The town and the surrounding buildings carry Devon slate and stone tile alongside the thatch, both of which are heavy, both of which are laid in diminishing courses on older roofs, and both of which fail at the fixings rather than in the material.

Stone tile in particular is worth close photography. The units are heavy enough that a failed peg or nail is a safety matter, not just a leak, and the pattern of individual units that have slipped tells you how far the fixing failure has spread. That is legible in a high resolution frame from a few metres away and is not legible from the lane.

Corrugated metal turns up on the agricultural buildings, as everywhere in this part of the county, with the same fixings and lap questions as anywhere else.

The valley is open to Atlantic weather from the west with little shelter, and it traps damp air in the bottom. North facing slate stays green and thatch ridges stay wet, which is the specific local combination that shapes what a survey finds.

Holy Cross Church and Downes House are the landmarks, and the productive farmland of the Creedy valley is what surrounds them. Farm work here is much the same as at South Molton: a single flight over a holding covering house, barns and yard together, planned around livestock and around whatever is being done on the ground that week.