Thread matters

I have been using HomeKit for some years mostly for radiator and power switch control. Earlier this year I added an Eve Aqua device. All worked well until sometime in July when the Aqua suddenly became 'unreachable'. I didn't need it at the time so put it aside. Recently I purchased a couple of Eve Energy smart plugs but have been completely unable to join them to the network. Apparently a 'Thread border router' is required. I have an apple TV of the correct spec for that, but it is not recognised as such. I now understand that Apple silently upgraded HomeKit earlier in the summer, which has precipitated this dilemma.

It transpires that my WiFi network is incompatible, as it uses MESH—both wireless and wired to an accessory router in an outhouse. The latter is essential, but apparently a show stopper.

The irony is that Thread and Matter have been introduced to enable non-Apple kit Google, Amazon etc) to join into the network, but, as a purely Apple user I have absolutely no intention of using any such kit.

Is there a simple way of reverting to the previous HomeKit functionality? Ideally this would be possible in preferences (sorry: "settings").