Tintwistle is about as exposed as our patch gets. Sitting above Bottoms Reservoir on the edge of Longdendale, the village takes wind-driven rain straight off the moor, and the old gritstone cottages along Old Road and West Drive wear it. Stone soaks up water on the weather side, moss builds on stone-slate and concrete-tile roofs alike, and steps and setts stay green almost year round.
Because so much of Tintwistle is older stone with lime pointing, high-pressure cleaning is the wrong tool — it forces water into the wall and washes joints out. We steam clean instead, at low pressure, working with the stone rather than against it. Roof and gutter work is the other big one here: with this much rainfall, a blocked downpipe shows up as internal damp much faster than it would down in the city.
