Hedge cutting in East Grinstead

Boundary hedges on East Grinstead’s interwar roads and hillside gardens, cut straight and cleared away.

A lot of East Grinstead grew between the wars, along the Holtye Road, out at Felbridge and North End, and on estates such as Sackfield Gardens, Halsford Green and Brooklands Park. Gardens of that age often come with hedges of that age. Hedge cutting in East Grinstead is as much about keeping old privet, laurel and beech in line as anything newly planted.

We cut big-leaved hedges by hand where a trimmer would shred them, check every hedge for nests before we start, and take the trimmings away. We plan the main cuts and any reductions for the September to February window. Where a hedge runs down a slope, we cut the top to a clean line rather than letting it follow every bump in the ground.

Hedge cutting in East Grinstead’s hillside gardens

Slopes make hedges harder than they look. A hedge running down a sloping drive needs its top stepped or cut to one smooth fall, never a line that wobbles with the ground, and the downhill face is usually taller than it seems from the house. Where a garden backs onto one of the wooded valleys south of town, the boundary can be a muddle of hedge, holly and self-sown saplings that’s been left for years. We’ll tidy the hedge and tell you what else is growing in it. Anything that has turned into a tree is a job for an arborist.

Hedge cutting rules and the nesting season

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it’s an offence to damage or destroy an active nest. With Ashdown Forest close by and wooded valleys round the edge of town, East Grinstead gardens get plenty of nesting birds. So hard cutting goes into autumn and winter, after the season is over, and any summer trim is light and only happens once we’ve had a proper look inside. If there’s a nest, that stretch is left alone until the young have gone.

Hedge Trimming in East Grinstead: your questions

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

Can you cut the neighbour’s side as well?

If they’re happy, yes, and we’ll do both faces on the same day. It stops the hedge ending up cut to two different lines.

My conifer hedge has gone brown inside. Can it be cut back hard?

Only as far as the green. Leylandii and most other conifers won’t regrow from bare wood, so cutting into it leaves a permanent gap. If it’s too far gone, we’ll tell you plainly.

Do I need permission to trim a hedge in a conservation area?

Not for routine trimming. In East Grinstead’s conservation areas the extra rules are about trees, which need notice to the council before any work. A hedge that has grown into a row of trees is a grey area, so it’s worth checking first.

When can you cut a hedge back?

A light trim is fine in summer once the hedge has been checked for nests. Hard cutting and reductions wait for September to February, when nesting is over. Every bit of the cuttings leaves with us.