In December 2024 and January 2025 I was contracted to lay a pure hornbeam hedge at a property in Halnaker near Chichester. The house and grounds of the property were in the process of being restored by the current owner after decades of neglect by the previous incumbent.

The hedge was a decent height and for the most part was very consistent, but because of its western and southern aspect it had a lot of growth on the off side of the hedge out towards the light. All this had to be cut off with a long reach pole saw before I could lay the hedge.

There were also a lot of mature shrubs in front of the hedge, and, just to keep things interesting, there was an old iron park railing fence immediately behind it.

Once I had removed the excess side growth the hedge started to make a lovely dense boundary. For the most part I had to work ‘back-handed’ due to the proximity of the fence and the direction of lay, but this is all part and parcel of hedgelaying; things aren’t always straightforward.

Another complication was that the fence had supporting struts every so often which meant that I had to be creative with my pleaching cuts to get the stems past them and in line with the hedge.

As well as some more regular cuts such as the side pleach above. Fortunately, hornbeam is very nice to work with and despite being close grained it is also quite malleable and very strong.

The first section was very consistent and made a lovely hedge.

Then the hedge and fence turned a corner, so more creative cuts were required.

Once past the corner the rest of the hedge was much more straightforward.

Although it became a bit thinner towards the end of the 64 metre run due to heavy shading from some conifers.

The main part of the hedge however was a joy to lay and made a really dense boundary feature that is now much more wildlife friendly as well as allowing more light into the house and grounds.

The customer was delighted with his new hedge and is now looking to plant up the gaps at the lower end where it was more shaded.

I really enjoyed working on this hedge. A combination of some unique challenges, a pure hornbeam hedge, and some really technical pleaching cuts made it a really interesting job. I look forward to more in the future.