Hedgelaying: The Nationals 2013

Yesterday was The Nationals at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire. The weather was reasonably kind, with just a few light showers. However, the wind was quite strong at times, making it necessary to hang on tight to the taller stems as they came down to prevent them blowing way out of the hedge-line and breaking off.

Parking was away from the hedge and we were ferried to and fro by tractor and trailer, which always makes it difficult for people like me who like to bring the proverbial kitchen sink with them.

The hedge itself was at first glance very manageable - how many times have I fallen into this trap - but was rather tall, at some fifteen to twenty feet, and did contain some sizeable Field Maples, but I think we all felt comfortable that the cants were much of a likeness, at least within our class. The side had been flailed up to about eight feet removing some useful side growth.

The first problem to arise was that two of the SoE veterans had been held up waiting for transport to the hedge and it was ten minutes past the draw time when the decision was taken that we could wait no linger and to draw for those that were present. The delayed two turned up a short while later and were told they could have extra time at the end so as to put things on a level playing field.

In the draw I get the first cant, which looks OK, except for some large Field Maples that appear to have been damaged when younger and had dead wood in the area of the pleaching hinge. Quite a lot of Spindle and Dogwood in the cant too, which could prove interesting.

And then I get a bit of a surprise - the cant next to mine is the last of the SoE Intermediates and one of them has not turned up and so after I had laid-off the first two stems - I hadn't noticed that there was no one working that cant - I'm told by their judge that I will have to stake from my first peg and make what I can of the join into the un-laid section. No point in worrying about that now as there is a hedge to lay. So, I press on and take the tops out of a couple of Field Maples and get them down and it looks like this at about a third of the way down the cant.

Quite pleased with the pleachers at this stage, but struggling a bit with the build, as the Spindle and Dogwood was tall and thin and with all the side growth at the top - poles with fluffy tops - and I couldn't seem to get the build right. At one point I glanced at my watch and thought it said one o'clock, panic set in as I still had four or five stems to lay and there was no way I would be able to finish laying and get the stakes and binding done in an hour. After a while I could still hear chainsaws so thought others must still be laying and so had a look down the line, and indeed the others looked to be be as behind as me - another look at the watch showed that I had apparently misread five-past twelve. Big sense of relief but I still felt under pressure as I had a lot to do in the remaining time. So no time to take any more photos till the end. To cope with the un-laid section to my left I had to cut off one of the laid-off stems and force what I could of the others into the standing hedge at the start of my cant, which was not ideal. Anyway, I did get it finished in the nick of time and this was the result.

The binders supplier were absolutely beautiful and made it easy to get a nice straight top. The cleft Chestnut stakes were also good but my line had a slight curve that I couldn't straighten because of the number of heavy stems in the hedge and no amount of pulling and pushing would resolve the problem and I had no time left to move the last stake, which may have made it look a bit better.

I was pleased with some aspects of the finished job but felt that the build was uneven and in fact the back of the hedge, in my opinion, looked better than the front. I also felt that it was a rushed job with no time to stand back and look at what you were doing, but then that's competition laying for you.

But everything said, it was a great day as always and although I was well and truly knackered at the end I did enjoy myself and its wonderful to see the different styles and the top-notch work done by some of the competitors.

So what should it have looked like? Well here are three shots shots - the first is a rather poor photo of the SoE Intermediates;