After weeks of waiting, the National Hedge-laying Championships at Stourhead, Wiltshire, were finally upon us. I had been looking forward to the competition for several months and I was keen to make a good impression, especially after coming second in my first ever competition back in February this year. However, I knew it would not be easy. I was in the Intermediate Class against 9 other experienced competitors, so the pressure was on.

The day dawned slightly misty and hazy, but the forecast was good so at least the weather was on our side. The competition rules were simple – Lay 9 metres of hedgerow in the appropriate style within a 5 hour time limit. You are marked on quality and neatness of cutting, straightness and height of stakes and binders, and overall appearance of the finished hedge. The hedgerow was a good conservation mix of hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel and field maple but it had been laid before, some years previously. This meant that there were a lot more stems per metre than you would normally expect, plus there was a line of blackthorn sucker growth away from the true line of the hedge. All this served to make the hedge-laying process much slower overall.

At 09:00 hrs the hooter sounded and we were off. After a bit of head scratching and much struggling, I managed to break into the start of my section or ‘Cant’ as it is properly called. I made steady progress until I came across a rather large hawthorn that had suppressed its neighbours and consequently made a bit of a hole in the hedgerow. This hole had subsequently been filled by bramble, which needed clearing out and also took up precious time. It also meant that I had to try and fill the hole up with deadwood to close the gap and get an even appearance.

The time disappeared in what seemed like a heartbeat. I managed to get the hedgerow down in 4 hours, but that meant I only had 1 hour to do the staking, binding and trimming. I began in earnest and was soon racing around like there was no tomorrow.

Before I knew it, the hooter sounded for the end of the competition and we all had to stand away from our work. I had just about finished in the allotted time, although the back of my hedge wasn’t trimmed as well as I would have liked. Then the judge came along to mark our work.

In the event I came fifth. I was filled with mixed emotions; on the one had I was happy that I had given a good account of myself and that I had finished in the allowed time despite it only being my second competition. On the other hand, I was a little gutted that I hadn’t done better as I know that I am capable of placing much higher. Still, it was a superb experience and I learned a huge amount from my fellow competitors. It was also great to see all the other styles of hedge-laying from around the Country and I made lots of good friends.  I was especially pleased for David Dunk and Mike Mason who came 1st and 2nd respectively in our class, and also Paul Matthews who came first in the Midland Intermediate class and who also won the Best Overall Intermediate. They are all great cutters from the South of England H/L Society, and guys that I am proud to call mates.

Next year the competition is in Cambridgeshire. I can’t wait!