Broadway is famous for one thing above all: the honey-coloured stone. The village sits on the eastern edge of the Vale of Evesham, right at the foot of the Cotswold escarpment, and the wealthy wool and cloth merchants who built it dug their limestone straight out of the hills behind. The result is the long, broad High Street and The Green — wide, grass-fringed, lined with chestnut trees and rows of 16th and 17th-century cottages in oolitic Jurassic limestone, with traditional Cotswold stone slate and old clay on the roofs. It is one of the most photographed villages in England. It is also, for the same reasons, a roof that greens up badly.
The location does most of the damage. Broadway sits directly beneath Fish Hill and Broadway Tower, where the ground climbs to over 1,000 feet — the highest reach of the northern Cotswolds. Cold, damp air spills down off that escarpment and settles over the village, the shaded lower slopes and spring-fed valley ground hold moisture, and the tall stone cottages along the High Street shade each other for much of the day. Moss, lichen and gloeocapsa algae live on exactly that — cold, damp and shade — so a Broadway roof carries noticeably heavier growth than an identical house out on higher, drier, sunnier ground.
Then there's the material. Genuine Cotswold stone slate is porous, textured and laid in graded courses, with hundreds of small slates and deep laps that hold damp and give spores plenty to grip. Old hand-made clay does the same. Unlike a smooth modern tile, these surfaces never really dry out in a shaded position, so once moss takes hold it mats into the laps and stays there. By the time someone calls us, a north-facing stone-slate pitch above the High Street is usually a thick green-black mat sitting in the stone, with rust weeping off old valley metal and gutters packed with washed-down growth.
This is why method matters more here than almost anywhere. You cannot pressure-wash a Cotswold stone-slate roof — the force splits the slates, strips the surface and drives water under the laps, and a cracked stone slate has to be replaced with a reclaimed one to match. So on Broadway's heritage roofs we remove the moss by hand, working off a roof ladder that spreads the load, and then treat with biocide. It is slower than blasting a modern tile, but it is the only way to clean a stone roof without taking years off its life — and on a covering that costs a fortune to replace, that's the whole point.
Not every roof in the village is heritage stone, mind. Around the edges, on Snowshill Road, Station Road, Childswickham Road and the later infill, you'll find modern concrete interlocking tile on newer houses and the odd converted plot. Those are a different job — they can take a more robust clean where it suits — but in this damp microclimate they green up too, and they get the same bulk-removal-then-biocide treatment so the result actually lasts. Whether it's a 17th-century stone cottage or a 1990s house on the village edge, the cause is the same escarpment damp, and so is the cure.
Each one has its own approach. On a village this old, method matters far more than equipment.
The roof that makes Broadway look like Broadway — graded courses of porous limestone slate on the 16th and 17th-century cottages along the High Street and The Green. Brittle, irreplaceable except with reclaimed stone, and never to be pressured. These are hand-cleared of moss off a roof ladder, with biocide kept off the lime mortar and old leadwork.
Found on cottages and outbuildings across the village and out toward Childswickham and Wickhamford. Often a century or more old and fragile when wet — scraped by hand, never pressured, with extra care around the bedded ridges, hips and valleys where the tiles are oldest and most likely to crack.
On some of the 18th and 19th-century properties and later additions. Durable but unforgiving — slate gets hand-clearing of the laps, a low-pressure rinse where appropriate and a neutral biocide. We keep everything off old lead flashings and weathered ridge mortar, which heritage roofs rely on to stay watertight.
On the newer houses and infill around Snowshill Road, Station Road and the approaches — Marley and Redland interlocking tiles. The textured surface grips spores and the escarpment damp keeps everything wet, so they mat up heavily. We remove the moss by hand first, then biocide, with a sealant on the right surfaces to slow regrowth further.
From the honey-stone heart of the village out to the surrounding WR12 hamlets — same escarpment damp, slightly different roof on each.
The famous broad main street and the grass-fringed Green — tall, shaded 16th and 17th-century stone cottages on traditional Cotswold stone slate, much of it listed and inside the conservation area, all of it hand-scrape only.
The older, quieter top of the village toward St Eadburgha's — historic stone houses and cottages where shaded north pitches and porous stone slate mean heavy moss and a careful, slow hand-clean.
The roads climbing out toward the hills and the old station line — a mix of stone cottages and later houses, including modern concrete tile that mats up fast in this damp pocket beneath the escarpment.
The Evesham-side edge of the village and the lanes toward Childswickham — a spread of cottages and newer homes on clay, slate and modern tile, all greening in the valley damp running off the slope.
The hamlets up in the hills above Broadway — small, shaded, classic Cotswold stone-slate and clay cottages, often holiday lets and second homes, where moss takes hold quickly in the cold, damp upland air.
The surrounding WR12 villages out across the vale edge — stone and clay cottages alongside more modern housing, the same mix of heritage and current roofs we cover right across the Broadway area.
Broadway has been a conservation area since 1969, and the village is one of the most densely listed in the Cotswolds. The whole point of the place — the reason people travel to see it — is the unbroken run of honey-stone cottages, the wide street, the chestnut-lined Green and the traditional stone-slate roofs that tie it all together. A great many of those roofs sit on listed buildings, from the Grade I medieval church of St Eadburgha's at the quiet top of the parish to whole terraces of 17th-century merchants' houses along the High Street. Those roofs need a completely different hand to a modern tile, because force cracks old stone slate and drives water into a structure that has stayed watertight for centuries precisely because nobody blasted it.
For listed buildings, cleaning sits in a careful zone. Straightforward removal of biological growth normally doesn't need listed-building consent, because you're not altering the fabric of the building. Anything that touches the lime mortar, the lead, or the original stone-slate fixings usually does — and we'll tell you upfront if a job crosses that line so you can speak to Wychavon District Council's conservation team before booking. We keep biocide off lime mortar by sheeting and rinsing the edges, and where old lead flashings have weathered to a soft grey patina we'll usually recommend leaving them rather than scrubbing them back to bright metal, which is exactly the kind of thing heritage officers, reasonably, don't want to see.
It's worth remembering why Broadway looks the way it does. The village was thriving when the Domesday Book was written, and it grew rich on the medieval wool and cloth trade — the sheep grazed the escarpment, the merchants quarried the honey-coloured limestone out of the same hills, and they built their houses long and low along the broad road that gave the place its name. By around 1600 it had become a busy coaching stop on the run between Worcester and London, and inns like the Lygon Arms put it on the map. That history is the asset: it's why a clean, honest stone-slate roof matters so much to a property's value here, and why a green, streaked one stands out for all the wrong reasons.
At quote stage we check whether your property looks listed and glance at the Historic England map before the survey. It costs us five minutes and can save you a planning headache — and on a Cotswold stone roof, getting the method right the first time is the difference between a clean that lasts and a repair bill in reclaimed slate.
We come out, look at the roof, the access and the gutters, and tell you exactly what's needed and what it costs. No hard sell, no pressure to book on the spot — and on the older stone-slate and listed cottages we flag anything that touches conservation rules first.
Heavy moss is removed by hand from a ladder, tower or roof ladder, gutters cleared at the same time. On Broadway's porous Cotswold stone slate and fragile old clay, the bulk growth has to be lifted off by hand — never blasted — before the biocide can reach the spores beneath.
An approved biocide is applied at the correct dilution. It kills algae, lichen and remaining moss spores at the root, without high-pressure water touching the slates — which matters even more in this cold, shaded, escarpment-damp microclimate where regrowth comes back fast.
The biocide keeps working after we've left, preventing regrowth for up to two years. Most customers don't need us back for a top-up before then.
A Broadway roof clean keeps us on the ladders most of the day regardless — heritage stone slate is slow, careful work — so it makes sense to pull the gutters through while we're up there. And the biocide is what holds the result for two years, which counts for a lot beneath an escarpment this damp. You pay for neither; both come as standard.
The free gutter clear is more than a nicety here. On an old stone cottage, a gutter packed with washed-down moss and grit pushes rain down the wall instead of away from the house, and damp in the fabric of a porous limestone building is exactly what you don't want. We clear what comes off the roof as we go, so you're not left with a clean roof and blocked gutters. And because the biocide carries on working long after we've packed up, most Broadway customers get two seasons or more before they'd even think about booking us back — in a microclimate this cold and shaded, that's the part that earns its keep.
Get my Broadway quoteBroadway throws up everything from irreplaceable Cotswold stone slate on listed High Street cottages to modern tile on the village edge, and the heritage roofs take slow, careful hand-work rather than fast pressure — which is part of why we won't quote a flat rate over the phone. Every roof's different. But to be straight with you, most roof cleans are £550–£950. A standard cottage or semi sits in that range; larger, steeper or more delicate roofs (graded stone slate, heavy moss, awkward access, big detached houses) go up from there.
What moves the price:
Always included, never an add-on: a free gutter clear while we're up there, and the biocide that keeps moss off for up to two years.
How we quote: a free no-obligation survey, a written price the same day, no deposit, pay only when it's done. See our full roof cleaning cost guide →
No — but only because we never put high pressure near it. The traditional Cotswold stone slate and old clay you find on the honey-stone cottages along the High Street and The Green is porous, brittle and often a century or more old. Pressure-washing it splits the slates, blasts out the limewash and forces water under the laps. On those roofs we hand-remove the moss working off a roof ladder, then apply biocide — never a lance turned up high. The modern concrete tile on the newer houses around the village edge can take a more robust approach where it suits, but it's the biocide that stops the regrowth either way, not the force of the water.
Up to two years, often longer, because the biocide carries on killing fresh spores after we've left. Broadway is a tough spot for moss — the village sits right beneath the Cotswold escarpment at Fish Hill, so cold air, shade and damp roll down off the slope and settle, and north-facing pitches in the shaded High Street streets colour up faster than open south-facing ones. Pressure-washing on its own buys you about a season; the moss is back the next autumn because the spores are still in the porous stone. The biocide is the difference between cleaning the surface and treating the cause.
Yes, when applied properly. We use approved biocides at manufacturer-specified dilutions, applied in dry conditions so the active ingredient bonds to the roof rather than running off. Pets are kept indoors during application and for an hour after; planted borders and the cottage gardens Broadway is known for are sheeted and watered down before and after. On a village edge that runs straight into open Cotswold countryside and grazing land we're careful about run-off, and we've never had an issue with ponds, wildlife or stock in years of doing this.
Yes, and this is the work we take most care over. Broadway has been a conservation area since 1969 and the village is densely listed, from the Grade I medieval church of St Eadburgha's down to whole runs of 17th-century stone cottages along the High Street and The Green. On those roofs we hand-scrape only — never pressure — and we keep biocide off lime mortar, old leadwork and the original stone slate by sheeting and rinsing the edges. Straightforward removal of moss and algae usually doesn't need listed-building consent because you're not altering the fabric; anything touching mortar, lead or the original slate fixings does, and we'll flag it before we start so you can speak to Wychavon District Council's conservation team first.
Two reasons, and they stack. First the location: Broadway sits at the foot of the Cotswold escarpment beneath Fish Hill and Broadway Tower, where the highest ground in the northern Cotswolds rises to over 1,000 feet. Cold, damp air and shade spill down off that slope and sit over the village, and springs and shaded valley ground keep humidity high — which is exactly what moss, lichen and algae feed on. Second the materials: traditional Cotswold stone slate and old clay are porous and textured, so they hold damp and give spores something to grip. Put a porous heritage roof in a cold, shaded, damp microclimate and it greens up faster than almost anywhere — which is why the free biocide treatment earns its keep here.
On Broadway's stone-slate and old clay roofs we avoid standing on the covering wherever we can — those slates crack underfoot. We work from a ladder or scaffold tower with a long-reach lance, and where we do need to get onto the pitch we use a roof ladder hooked over the ridge to spread the load and keep weight off the individual slates. On the steep, tall gables common on the older High Street cottages that careful approach matters even more. We'll tell you in advance which method we're using on your property and why.
Yes, and a fair bit of our Broadway work is exactly this — holiday lets, second homes and B&Bs where the owner isn't always on site. A green, streaked roof costs you bookings in a village people choose for its looks, so kerb appeal is the whole point. We can quote from photos and a survey, work between changeovers or while the property is empty, and deal with you remotely if you're not local. Send the postcode and a couple of photos and we'll take it from there.
Three reasons that matter, in order. Slate and tile life — moss holds moisture against the surface, accelerating freeze-thaw damage, and on genuine Cotswold stone slate or hand-made clay that replacement cost is serious money and often needs reclaimed materials to match. Gutters and downpipes — moss sheds and washes into the gutters, blocking them and pushing water down the wall instead of away from the house, which on an old stone cottage means damp in the fabric. Value and kerb appeal — in a village where buyers and holiday guests pay a premium for the honey-stone look, a green, streaked roof drags the whole property down. Cleaning costs a fraction of replacing slates or repointing ridges.
On traditional Cotswold stone slate and old clay — the roofs on most of Broadway's listed and conservation-area cottages — absolutely not. High pressure splits the slates, strips the surface and drives water underneath, and once a stone slate cracks you're into reclaimed-slate territory to repair it. Those roofs get hand-removal and biocide only. The modern concrete tile on the newer houses around the village can take a controlled, more robust wash where it's the right tool. We always tell you the method first and we never pressure-blast heritage stone.
Spring (March–May) and early autumn are ideal — dry enough for the biocide to bond, and it sets the roof up before the cold, damp months when moss grows fastest, which beneath the escarpment is a long season. We clean year-round, though; the biocide works whenever it's applied in dry conditions, and we plan jobs around weather windows rather than rushing them in the wet.
Vale of Evesham market town just down the road — clay and modern tile on a damp, low-lying floodplain.
Roof cleaning EveshamRegency villas, Cotswold-stone homes and post-war estates, over the escarpment to the south.
Roof cleaning CheltenhamTimber-framed listed buildings and post-war estates where the Severn meets the Avon.
Roof cleaning TewkesburyThe Guys did a fantastic job on my roof and worked nonstop all day to get the job done and left everything clean and tidy after themselves, highly recommend and would look to use again 👍, made a massive difference to the house.
The Guys did a fantastic job on my roof and worked nonstop all day to get the job done and left everything clean and tidy after themselves, highly recommend and would look to use again 👍, made a massive difference to the house.
Would strongly recommend. Swift with good work quality and kept the surrounding areas tidy. Looks like a new roof! Would 100% recommend.
Would strongly recommend. Swift with good work quality and kept the surrounding areas tidy. Looks like a new roof! Would 100% recommend.
Blake and Daniel cleaned my patio and path at the front and did a great job. They were friendly and professional and explained well what they were going to do. I also had a bad dark patch which came up really well which others had failed to remove. I would definitely recommend them if like me you have a patio or driveway that badly needs a thorough clean
Blake and Daniel cleaned my patio and path at the front and did a great job. They were friendly and professional and explained well what they were going to do. I also had a bad dark patch which came up really well which others had failed to remove. I would definitely recommend them if like me you have a patio or driveway that badly needs a thorough clean
100% recommend this team . From start to finish was kept informed.On the morning a text to say what time they will be there and arrived on time . Worked from 9:30 till 7:30pm on the roof and jet washing all the area after. Very professional and had all the kit even a drone to show you the results of the whole area . The difference is amazing and looks like a new roof . Really happy with the results and so many comments from neighbours too saying how good it looks . You will not be disappointed .
100% recommend this team . From start to finish was kept informed.On the morning a text to say what time they will be there and arrived on time . Worked from 9:30 till 7:30pm on the roof and jet washing all the area after. Very professional and had all the kit even a drone to show you the results of the whole area . The difference is amazing and looks like a new roof . Really happy with the results and so many comments from neighbours too saying how good it looks . You will not be disappointed .
Had our drive re sealed and repaired amazing job by Blake and Dan thanks very much for your hard work it looks amazing highly recommended company
Had our drive re sealed and repaired amazing job by Blake and Dan thanks very much for your hard work it looks amazing highly recommended company
What can I say other than WOW !! Massive thank you to Blake and Dan for all of your hard work, so professional and such an amazing job! Left everything spotless so pleased, highly recommend to everyone. Extremely happy
What can I say other than WOW !! Massive thank you to Blake and Dan for all of your hard work, so professional and such an amazing job! Left everything spotless so pleased, highly recommend to everyone. Extremely happy
Blake and team did a great job of cleaning and resealing our roof. They worked hard and communicated well by proactively keeping us updated at every stage. We are happy with the end result and the transformation was epic!
Blake and team did a great job of cleaning and resealing our roof. They worked hard and communicated well by proactively keeping us updated at every stage. We are happy with the end result and the transformation was epic!
We had excellent service from start to finish. The guys were very professional, discussed everything over the phone initially then a visit with the drone to allow accurate quarter and expectation management. On the day they were considerate with the neighbours, did a wonderful job with the roof and gutters and cleared up so well that everything looked far better than when they started. Cannot recommend more highly.
We had excellent service from start to finish. The guys were very professional, discussed everything over the phone initially then a visit with the drone to allow accurate quarter and expectation management. On the day they were considerate with the neighbours, did a wonderful job with the roof and gutters and cleared up so well that everything looked far better than when they started. Cannot recommend more highly.
Great guys. Amazing job on the drive and always answers the phone. Recommend 100%
Great guys. Amazing job on the drive and always answers the phone. Recommend 100%
Really impressed with Aquapro Roof cleaning. Very professional guys that done such a good job, that it looks like I’ve had a new roof installed, (after 40yrs of dirt and moss). Blake talked me through everything in detail, and answered any questions I had. Showed me the end result with his drone footage and left house clean and tidy. Highly recommended.
Really impressed with Aquapro Roof cleaning. Very professional guys that done such a good job, that it looks like I’ve had a new roof installed, (after 40yrs of dirt and moss). Blake talked me through everything in detail, and answered any questions I had. Showed me the end result with his drone footage and left house clean and tidy. Highly recommended.
Great service, lovely & friendly team. So happy with the patio.
Great service, lovely & friendly team. So happy with the patio.
Free gutter clean and biocide treatment with every roof clean. Cotswold stone slate, listed and conservation-area cottages handled correctly — by hand, never pressure. Fully insured, no-obligation quote, written the same day.
