Back at Cherkley Court

On Saturday SHG were back at Cherkley to lay 80 meters along the road by the main entrance. The road was conned off and lights controlled the traffic flow. A bright sunny morning with higher than normal temperature for the end of October.

The hedge had an odd mix of species, with very little Hawthorn and a lot of Spindle and Field Maple. Most of the stems were two to three inches in diameter with the few of four or more. There were some large multi-stemmed plants, and some that had been damaged by road-salt and pollution that presented a challenge, and some large gaps that will need planting up.

This is one of the better sections, mostly Spindle with some reasonably sized Field Maple., but note the variation is stem size.

Rather a poor shot of the finished hedge but with nice autumn colours.

There are several ways to approach the laying by hand of a stem of a reasonable size and yesterday presented an opportunity to photograph one of them.

This is a Field Maple of some 4 inches in diameter at the base. I have just removed the remains of the spiral guard, hence the markings on the trunk.

What I have done here is to make a straight saw cut about two thirds into the stem a few inches above where the final heal cut will be made. I have then used my axe - in this case a 4lb Elwell topping axe - to make the pleaching cut. The saw cut I made allows the chips to fall away easily, allowing a clean line of sight when using the axe and reducing splitting of the heel.

Having cut in to the required depth for the pleach, I then used the axe to cut downwards and lever over the stem, leaving a nice hinge. The heel was then cut off at an angle to allow water run-off - this may look a bit high from this angle but the bank is very steep and there is only an inch or so of the heal above the soil on the other side.

This technique is often referred to as 'using a safety cut' and can be very helpful when working in confined spaces, especially on 'South of England' style hedges. In circumstances where you can swing a felling axe, experienced hedgers will cut the pleach and the angled heel at the same time using downward and upward cuts. A good example of this can be seen in this YouTube video of Peter cutting a Midland style exhibition hedge in The Netherlands - he only had a 2.5lb axe with him so it was no easy task, and you can appreciate why we now use chainsaws.

Cherkley Court - Second Session

On a somewhat surprisingly - in this rather mild early winter - frosty morning SHG were back at Cherkley Court. This time we had two hedges to lay within the complex. One was in the 'car park' and the other at, what will become in due course, the main entrance. I was assigned to the latter, which was a maiden double row hedge of some ten or so years; mostly Hawthorne but with a few Field Maple and Spindle mixed in. There was no field layer to speak of and, other than some Clematis vitalba tangling the tops, there was no impediment to laying the mostly 2 to 4 inch stems.

This piece of work was difficult to photograph due to the proximity of a rather busy road and the fact that we were working on the north side on what was a very bright sunny day.

It would appear that the hedge had been cut at about four foot at some time in the last few years but was otherwise unmolested. So it was easy enough work and handled in the main with hand tools.

Although this hedge was planted as a double row, many of the whips had not taken and there were many sections of single row stems and some sizeable gaps. In the photo below Con is healing-in some whips in one such gap. Note the heavy frost on the grass in the background. Even a short lived frost such as this has a surprising effect on the interaction of metal cutting tools and living wood. There is a distinct sound and brittleness to the cut, and 'Yorkshires' have a pronounced ring to them when cutting the pleach. I'm told that after prolonged periods of hard frost - not something we get to often nowadays - even young stems become so brittle that they are impossible to cut and lay without them breaking off.

As I said, not great photos due to the bright sun coming from the 'wrong' direction, but this shot shows the finished section from the East. This will be mirrored on the West side of the entrance when we lay that side in January.

 

Another shot looking East, with the strong sunlight makeing the hedge look rather thinner than it actually is, but with a nice stake line - and the frost still on the grass at 1300hrs.

 

Looking from inside the entrance you get a different perspective and I wish I had taken more shots from this side, although the brash rather obscures the view.

Cherkley Court

Last Saturday saw SHG at Cherkley Court for the first of three session this season. The house, gardens and estate once belonged to Lord Beaverbrook but are now being turned into an exclusive hotel, spa and golf course.

After several days of sunshine and heavy showers the day dawned dry and bright and the previous nights forecast indicated a mostly dry day. However, this was not to be the case and the showers soon arrived and remained with us for the rest of the session.

As you can see from the shot below the hedge is a maiden of some ten or so years; mostly Hawthorne with the odd rose, Field Maple and other species mixed in. Conveniently located alongside an internal roadway with the golf course taking shape in the background - the chalk subsoil showing clearly through the hedge.

There was a bit of discussion as to the species of the trees in the foreground. These had Hawthorne-like berries but noticeably larger, and sizeable spines on the branches, but the leaves did not resemble the native Hawthorn at all. It would appear that these are Cockspur Thorn (Crataegus persimilis 'Prunifolia'), although they have a more upright stance than most of the on-line descriptions and illustrations suggest but perhaps the crowns had been 'lifted' through judicious pruning.

  

It was decided that we would lay 100 yards in this first session and as the turnout was very good we put two cutters into each cant of about 10 yards. Although we all cut with hand tools, the size of the stems, ease of access to the hedge and lack of any entanglements in the crown, meant that very good progress was made and here my partner for the session Dick and I are about half way through laying.

As the cutters in the early cants finished laying the staking and binding teams got to work...

...and it didn't take long to complete the 100 yards. The stake-line looks slightly off-centre in the shot below. It was down the centre of the stems, however the post and rail fence on the right obstructs the tucking-in and pruning of that side of the hedge to some degree. Despite the recent rain the stakes were very hard to drive into the chalk, which here is only a few inches below the surface.

The last shot is of the cant that Dick and I laid. The safety barrier and chalk subsoil in the background detract somewhat but we understand that the rough and semi-rough on the golf course will be reinstated with native downland species, so in a few years it should be much improved.