Author Topic: Traditional Hedgelaying (Read 3079 times)

Henstock · « **on:** August 20, 2013, 01:41:55 am »

This autumn we intend to have a go at traditional hedge laying.
We have no formal training, I have researched techniques extensively on the net and feel we can give it a good go if nothing else!
We live on the North Shrops/Staffs border near to Market Drayton and I would like to offer anybody who fancies a go at this age old tradition to come and spend some time with us getting stuck in!
Equally if anyone has done it before and can offer advice either virtual or practical it would be much appreciated!!

Steph Hen · « **Reply #1 on:** August 20, 2013, 07:38:10 am »

It's great fun. Tough, but good and improves a hedge no end. Instructors kept telling us to make the cuts deeper, so the bit that's left is very flexible rather than taking less wood out and having to force the stem over so hard.

We were told to make sure the resulting cuts and their bendswere smooth and sloping so rain water flows off and not collect in the cuts and rot the wood, like when youre pruning anything really. However, I have since seen several hedges which looked like the stems were half sawn through, then pushed over, leaving the cut bit sticking up and splinters around the bend sticking up to collect water! But, two years on, these hedges have grown and look fine.

Hawthorn and black thorn are incredibly resilient, so my advice is to go at it and not too worry too much about getting each individual stem and cut textbook. Starting is tricky... Good luck.

suziequeue · « **Reply #2 on:** August 20, 2013, 07:43:46 am »

We are planning on running another hedgelaying course here in mid-Wales this November.

We have a welsh hedgelaying champion (Richard Lewis) for four days 25th - 28th November and we are happy to take a couple of students. Cost £100 includes lunch each day.

Dogwalker · « **Reply #3 on:** August 20, 2013, 01:23:04 pm »

Make sure the tools are really sharp and don't try to do too much in one go.

smudger · « **Reply #4 on:** August 21, 2013, 12:04:32 pm »

There are also different regional styles, some easy and others more technical....

suziequeue · « **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2013, 01:43:43 pm »

Quote from: smudger on August 21, 2013, 12:04:32 pm

There are also different regional styles, some easy and others more technical....

God yes!!!! We've had our very overgrown top hedge laid by three different people in the past three years (we get a bit done each year - should finish it this time) and they have all slagged off the previous layers efforts even though they have all been local hedge layers and have a similar regional style!!

Even the chap who did the first bit had something to say about the way the hedge had been laid twenty or thirty years previously!!

mab · « **Reply #6 on:** August 22, 2013, 05:10:32 pm »

Just go for it.

I had a thought about going on a course but they were always in the wrong place/wrong time, so I just made a start.

My hedges were not as neat as the ones you see in pictures [size=78%]when googling hedge laying,[/size][/size][size=78%] but then, the example pics tend to be of laying a neat, straight row of evenly spaced young stems, whereas my hedges were massively overgrown with big gaps between big trunks sometimes well over a foot from the nominal centerline of the hedge. It soon grows into a nice barrier.[/size]
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I generally cut until the stem will fall over under it's own weight, whatever species it is. they seem to survive OK. It's surprising how little wood you need to leave and still have it survive.