This is our cottage (we're on the right half from the left side of the door to the red post).
Notice that all the shingles here are made out of cement. The new ones are made out of some kind of slate, but as our cottage is over 400 years old (the external structure), ours are cement like most around here.
Like I said, the Thames goes right behind our house. I will put a new picture up soon showing the recent flooding potential.