We estate people don’t mess around when it comes to cutting the estate boundary hedges; we could use an electric hedge trimmer but the extension cable wouldn’t be long enough; we could use a 2 stroke trimmer but we would be there all year
So instead we hire contractors to do the job.
The machines they use have a flail cutting head which cuts and pulverises the material into small pieces. You will not see any staff or visitors in the pictures as the machines are not fussy what they rip to shred so we can’t let anybody near them.
The machines have a long reach; one of them has the reach of 20’ which saves us using platforms to cut the tops of the hedges less than 20’ high.
We can’t cut the hedges between 1st March and the end of August, to avoid the season for nesting birds.
Some of the tracks around the estate are a little tight but we squeeze the tractors down them.
Hiring of the contractors is more economical than having the machine on site in a shed all year, as it only takes them 2 days with 2 machines for the whole estate.
Big machines are essential for the hedges around the boundary of Rosemoor: but within the garden proper we take pride in maintaining our old hedges in the traditional way, restoring them by laying and replanting as necessary.
This blog was written by Phil Peard and the photos were taken by Lindsay Schuman.