We offer a rural footpath maintenance service, this primarily means' public rights of ways' and 'bridleways' but can also include other rural footpaths, our service includes all aspects of keeping the footpaths in a condition that allows walkers / ramblers to use them, this includes strimming, brush cutting, overhead clearance, path reconstruction, styles / gate repairs / construction, drainage, tree removal, bridge construction etc in fact if its required to keep a path open, we can probably deal with it.

We are approved contractors for Devon County Council's Public Rights of Way for Both North and South Devon Areas and are also on Cornwall County Council's approved list.

Please feel free to contact us to discuss the most cost effective method for your area, whether this is a fixed hourly rate or an agreed price for the whole works.

The use of hedges probably evolved when early man realised that good thick shrubs, cut down and arranged around his animals and  home, kept his domesticated animals from straying and were useful for keeping predators away. From this start (still practiced in Africa) its unlikely to have taken a great leap of imagination for somebody to start planting shrubs in order to confine and provide security for himself and his animals.

Unfortunately most shrubs want to be trees, so they tend to grow upwards, this means gaps appear at their bases, letting animals wander through them, so cutting or trimming the hedge was necessary to restrict the height and thicken the hedge, eventually somebody probably noticed that a broken stem that hed been laid on the ground continued to grow and produce shoots that grow straight upwards, thickening the hedge still farther and providing an impenetrable tangle of branches at the base of the hedge.

The word Hedge is derived from an old English word (hecg) that meant boundary or enclosure, originally most boundaries were created by digging a ditch and piling the soil onto a bank. It did not initially mean a line of plants grown together, although it became common practice during the time of the 'enclosure act' to define boundaries by enclosing them with plants, so we now normally associate a hedge with shrubs and small trees.

However visit  Cornwall, Devon and North Wales (also some other rural areas), and you will notice hedge banks, in Cornwall they are known as Cornish Hedges, in Devon as Devon Banks and in Wales as Cloddiau, they vary in terms of construction being either stone faced or soil / turf faced, and also differences in the shape of the hedge, (which is detailed elsewhere in this website) sometimes with shrubs planted on top (or along the side). The usual way to lay a hedge of this type is to lay the uprights (pleachers) along the bank either on top or up the sides, this is different to most hedge laying styles as the majority angle their pleachers at around 45 degrees, but this is because most layed hedges do not have a hedge bank providing height. This 'West country style' may not be as pleasing to the eye as perhaps the Midland style but it is equally effective in stock proofing and improving the hedge as a wild life refuge.

Take a look at your local hedges, almost certainly they have been half flailed to death by the local farmer / contractor, with large sections dead, dying or missing, this is primarily because flaling is done at the same height every five / ten years, causing the stems to be beaten rather than cut leaving them knarled and damaged eventually they just give up and die, this is going to get worse and worse leaving a lot of hedgerows with large gaps and made up of stinging nettle beds. We are not against the use of flails but they should be used properly, with hedges cut every two / three years and the hedge allowed to increase in height by a few inches each time its cut.

Hedgerows now contribute enormously to the conservation of wildlife and it is commonly accepted that a well layed hedge is best of all, it provides a thick and impenetrable barrier allowing many low / ground nesting birds to breed in safety, (Magpies cannot penetrate into the hedge as they do with 'open' hedges), many mammal species find sanctuary within its branches and it provides an abundance of berries and seeds for wildlife to feed on, insects such as Brown Hairstreaks and White Letter Hairstreaks live on shrub / Tree species.

Whilst laying a hedge is more expensive than flailing it, it need only be done every 50 years or so if flailing is carried out on the layed hedge, the secret being to drive in the same direction as the hedge has been layed, even without flailing or trimming a hedge need usually only be laid ever twelve to fifteen years

The picture shows a well laid hedge in the 'Midlands Style', this is not often seen in the West Country where a less eye catching (but equally effective for stockproofing and wildlife conservation) style developed, the West Country style lays the pleachers flatter to the ground and does not use binding on the top, instead the pleachers are held in place with biodegradable string and wooden crops (hooks), in all probability the reason for the West country style is that most hedges were planted on top of Cornish hedges or earth banks and so the hedge did not need the height of the Midland or similar styles and also if the pleachers are lower to the ground they are better for keeping in smaller stock such as sheep, which might get under or through the more upright pleacher styles.

Because the condition of a hedge will vary based on species, size, position and the last time it was layed / planted etc, it is not possible to provide an average price per metre, but if you would like a quotation please contact us so that an initial survey can be conducted and a price quoted.

Hedge Laying