I have been an assessor for the NHLS / Lantra Hedgelaying Accreditation Scheme for 3 years now and it is something that I am really proud to be a part of. I love being able to pass on the skills and to be doing something that will hopefully ensure that the next generation of skilled hedgelayers are coming through. However, whilst I had previously attended the ‘Train the Trainer’ and standard setting courses, I had never actually had my own hedgelaying skills formally assessed. This was about to change….

On 17th September 2025, myself and a number of fellow assessors gathered at the Waddesdon Estate, Buckinghamshire, on what was to be the site for this season’s National Championships. We were to be cutting what would be the demonstration hedges for the public to view during the championships so that they could see 10 different styles next to each other in their finished state.

The hedge we were to lay was an absolute monster. It was 18 – 20 feet tall and had some huge field maples within it, as well as some really bushy side growth. All of us were to be assessed at either Silver (Proficient) or Gold (Advanced) level, thus allowing us to assess candidates at a lower level than ourselves.

Although not a competition, we all had only 5 hours in which to complete our 10 metre cants. I was being assessed at Gold level, and as part of the test I had to demonstrate a side lay, a back lay and a root lay. Nothing too taxing, but accuracy was the key. At Gold level there is very little room for error.

I was cutting South of England of course, so I needed lots of side growth in order to cover my pleachers. I am very pleased to say that my cutting that day was absolutely on point and I made no errors at all. Even the huge field maple that I had (just visible above) did not present me with any problems and pleached like a dream.

The only problem that I did have was that unfortunately, due to a break down in communication with the officials, the cutter downhill from me did a different type of start to his cant. This meant that he ended up cutting off most of the material that I needed to finish my own cant, hence the big gap in the photo above.

Needless to say, this did not count against me as it certainly was not my fault. We were assessed by 5 independent assessors, all of whom have won the title of National Supreme Champion on at least one occasion. I am happy to report that all 5 of the assessors judged my work to be worthy of the Gold level and I got special praise for the quality and accuracy of my cutting. The only point that was raised was that my trimming could have been a bit tighter, but given the size of the hedge to begin with I’ll take that all day long.

So, a very successful day and a great result for myself. It was also a good warm-up for the Nationals which at that point were only two weeks away.