Hedge Trimming & Hedge Cutting in Smallfield

Hedge trimming in Smallfield

Garden hedges and long rural boundaries around Smallfield, cut at the right time and cleared away.

Hedge trimming in Smallfield covers two rather different jobs. In the village it’s front and side hedges on estate gardens: privet, laurel, conifer. Out in the rest of Burstow parish, where the neighbourhood plan describes larger plots and open farmland with sheep, cattle and horses, it can mean a long boundary running beside a lane or a paddock.

Both grow hard on Weald clay. We check every hedge for nests before we start, cut big-leaved laurel with secateurs so it doesn’t brown, and plan the main cuts and reductions for September to February. Every cutting is bagged and taken away, so there’s no pile of trimmings by the gate.

Front hedges along a street, cut in one visit

Hedge trimming in Smallfield’s narrow lanes

The area’s original tracks all ran north to south, and they’re still narrow and winding. A hedge on one of those lanes isn’t only a garden feature. It’s the edge of the road. Let it bulge and it scrapes passing cars and pushes walkers into the traffic. Cutting these takes care with where the van goes and an eye on the verge. We keep the lane face upright and slightly tapered, so it stays green at the bottom and doesn’t creep further out every year.

Hedge cutting rules in the UK, and Smallfield’s birds

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it’s an offence to damage or destroy an active nest. With farmland, paddocks and wooded strips running right up to the gardens here, there’s no shortage of birds looking for a hedge. So we look before we cut, every time, and leave any hedge with a nest in it alone. The heavy work waits for autumn and winter. A light summer trim only goes ahead once we’ve had a proper look through.

Hedge Trimming in Smallfield: your questions

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

What does hedge trimming cost in Smallfield?

Length and height matter most, then the species and how long since it was last cut. A privet front hedge is quick. A long conifer boundary on a lane isn’t. We’ll look and give you a fixed price that includes taking the cuttings away.

Can you bring an overgrown leylandii back down?

Partly, as long as we stay in the green. Leylandii won’t reshoot from bare brown wood, so cutting into it leaves a dead face for good. Where there’s no green left to cut back to, we’ll say so honestly.

Do I need permission to trim a hedge near Burstow church?

Routine trimming doesn’t normally need consent. The Burstow conservation area, designated in 1990, adds extra controls mainly for trees. We don’t do tree work, but we’ll flag anything that looks worth checking with Tandridge first.