Hedge cutting in Oxted

Long boundaries round big Oxted houses and neat front hedges in town, cut at the right time.

Hedge cutting in Oxted covers a wide spread of jobs. The town is known for its large Arts and Crafts houses, and big houses tend to come with long, tall boundaries that can take most of a day. Closer to the station, a tidy front hedge might take an hour. Both get the same care, and both get every cutting taken away.

We check each hedge for nesting birds before we start, plan the main cuts and reductions for September to February, and cut big-leaved laurel with secateurs so the leaves don’t brown at the edges. For hedge trimming in Oxted on a regular basis, we’ll work out how many cuts a year your particular hedge needs.

Lane hedge trimmed beside a tile-hung house

When to cut hedges in the UK, with this much wildlife about

The rule is simple. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it’s an offence to damage or destroy an active nest, and the main nesting season runs roughly March to August. Oxted has a lot of green around it. The town sits at the foot of the North Downs in the Surrey Hills, much of the surrounding land is National Trust or farmland, and Great and Little Earls Woods are ancient oak and sweet chestnut woodland. Garden hedges here get used by birds. We check first, every time, and save the heavy work for autumn and winter.

Hedge cutting on Oxted’s sandy soil

On the greensand around the centre, hedges can go thin and brown at the base after a dry summer, because the roots are sitting in soil that drains fast. A face cut with a slight batter, wider at the bottom than the top, lets light reach the lower branches and keeps them leafy. Privet and laurel both respond well to it. Conifers are the exception worth knowing about. Leylandii won’t reshoot from bare brown wood, so we only ever trim within the green. Yew is the one conifer that comes back from old wood.

Hedge Trimming in Oxted: your questions

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

What are the hedge cutting laws in England?

The main one is the nesting bird rule: damaging an active nest is an offence, so you have to check before cutting, especially between March and August. In a conservation area like Old Oxted, trees need six weeks’ notice to the council, but ordinary hedge trimming doesn’t usually need consent.

Can you cut both sides of a boundary hedge?

Yes, if your neighbour is happy for us to go round. Otherwise we cut your side and the top, back to the boundary line, and leave their side alone.

How much does hedge cutting cost in Oxted?

It depends on length, height, species, how overgrown it is and whether we need access equipment to reach the top. We’ll come and look, then give you a fixed price with the waste removal included.

Can you bring a very tall hedge down?

Usually, over a couple of winters so the hedge isn’t shocked. With conifers we stay inside the green growth, and if one has gone past that point we’ll tell you honestly.