A gardener for Outwood and the lanes round the common

Regular garden care for Outwood’s detached houses and cottages, from a team four miles away in Horley.

If you’re after a gardener in Outwood, we’re about four miles off in Horley, and we’ve been looking after gardens round here since 2004. Outwood is small. The 2011 census counted 720 people in 261 households, and well over half the homes were detached, many on decent plots with fields or woodland behind them. That adds up to more lawn, more hedge and more clay than most town gardens ever see.

The village grew up round its common, and the common still sets the tone. The post mill in the middle of it dates from 1665 and is Grade I listed. Most of the countryside around belongs to the Harewoods estate, which the National Trust manages. So plenty of Outwood gardens back onto farmland, ponds and old oaks, and the wildlife comes over the fence as a matter of course.

Garden services in Outwood.

A big lawn under the trees, cut and striped

What Outwood gardens ask of a gardener

Patience with clay, mainly. The British Geological Survey maps the village on Weald Clay mudstone, and you feel it underfoot every winter. Lawns sit wet and turn mossy in the shady corners, then the same ground bakes and cracks in a dry August. Hedges grow hard on it, and a long boundary along a lane soon needs a ladder. That’s why most people here book a regular visit, usually fortnightly in the growing season, covering mowing, edging, hedges, shrubs and weeding. A few just want the big hedge cut twice a year and a clear-out in autumn. Both suit us fine.

Commercial grounds work in Outwood

Outwood’s commercial sites are rural ones. There’s a listed Victorian church, pubs with gardens close to the walking routes, a cricket club on the common and its own parish council. For sites like those we’ll write an annual schedule at a fixed price, invoiced monthly or quarterly. We also look after offices, blocks of flats and schools over in Redhill, Horley and round Gatwick, all on our patch.

How a visit works out here

If your house is down a track or on a lane with nowhere to pull in, tell us and we’ll agree where the van goes. We work Monday to Saturday, 7am to 6pm, and you don’t need to be home. Every clipping leaves with us. And because the same team comes each time, they’ll soon know which bit of your lawn floods and which hedge has a blackbird in it come April.

Grounds maintenance for Outwood businesses.

Annual contracts for blocks, offices, schools, care homes, churches and landlords.

Gardening in Outwood: your questions

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

Do you cover the outlying farms and cottages as well as the village?

Yes, the whole parish. We also cover Smallfield, Horne, Nutfield, Bletchingley and everywhere else within about 15 miles of Horley.

Can you take on a big garden that backs onto fields?

Yes, that’s typical for Outwood. We’ll mow and edge the main lawn, keep the field-side hedge in check and leave a rougher margin at the boundary if you’d like one for wildlife.

How do I get a price?

Ring 07720 886244 and we’ll come out, walk the garden with you and give you a fixed quote. It’s free. The figure depends on the size of the garden, access and how often you’d like us.