Grass cutting in Crawley Down

Striped, edged and cleared lawns on the village’s mix of sandy clay and sandstone ground.

Grass cutting in Crawley Down keeps us busier than you’d expect for a village. Most homes here were built between the 1930s and the 1980s, when a house came with a decent lawn front and back, and those lawns need cutting all season. We come weekly or fortnightly, mow with rear-roller Hayter mowers for proper stripes, edge every time and take the clippings with us.

If you’ve searched for grass cutting in my area from an RH10 postcode, we’re five and a half miles up the road in Horley. That’s close enough to pick the right day for your lawn, rather than turning up because a rota says Tuesday.

Lawn mowing in Crawley Down on mixed ground

The ground in the village isn’t one thing. There’s sandstone and siltstone underneath, a firm sandy clay near the surface, and old clay pits left over from the brickmaking days. In practice two lawns on the same road can behave quite differently. One dries out and goes the colour of straw by mid July. Another stays soft in a low corner until April. So we set the cutting height lawn by lawn, not street by street, and raise it in dry spells so the grass shades its own roots.

How often does grass cutting need doing in Crawley Down?

Weekly through May and June is what we’d recommend for most family lawns, because that’s when growth runs away with itself. Fortnightly suits spring, late summer and autumn, and it’s plenty in a drought. Lawn mowing services that stick to one rhythm all year end up either scalping the grass or leaving it shaggy. We won’t cut when it’s soaking or frozen, either. Wheels on wet clay squash the soil, and that’s where next spring’s moss gets its start.

Lawn Mowing in Crawley Down: your questions

Anything else, just ring. You’ll speak to the people who do the work.

When does the first cut of the year happen in Crawley Down?

Usually late March or early April, depending on how quickly the ground warms up and dries. The first pass is a high one, just topping the grass. We bring the height down gradually and keep going into October.

How much is grass cutting in Crawley Down?

We can’t give one number, since no two lawns in the village are alike. Size, how the mower gets in and how often you want us all come into it. We’ll come and have a look, then give you a fixed price per visit.

My garden backs onto the Worth Way. Does that make a difference?

A bit. The old railway line is lined with mature trees now, so lawns along it get shade and leaf drop near the back fence. We leave that strip slightly longer than the rest, which helps the grass cope with less light.