The most famous cottage in Scotland is getting a £6000 "hairdo" to go to the Burns and A' That festival.

Robert Burns's cottage in Alloway is undergoing the partial rethatch to look its best for the celebration of the bard's life that begins in Ayrshire on Saturday and runs until Sunday, May 5.

The top of the cottage's old barnet has become mossy and mulchy over time and needs replacing.

Enter stylist Jeremy Cox, a master thatcher from Castle Douglas, who is one of a rare band of men who practise the centuries-old art.

Over the next few weeks he will weave in a new thatch that should last for at least eight to 10 years.

Nat Edwards, the director of Burns National Heritage Park, said: "It will be great for people to get the opportunity to see the thatcher at work as they can get a flavour of what the eighteenth century must have been like when you see somebody doing traditional thatching.

"We hope this thatching will last us at least until after Burns's 250th birthday, when a complete rethatch, which will cost us tens of thousands of pounds, will have to be carried out."

©2002 The Herald