In November 2024 I was asked to lay a beech hedge, or rather, three separate beech hedges in a customer’s garden near Rudgwick, West Sussex.

The hedge had also been planted on heavy clay soil, and so had not done so well in the wetter areas of the garden.

I had not laid a beech hedge before, although I had seen it done elsewhere. Beech is unusual insofar as it is one of our only native hardwoods that does not coppice freely. I had been told that it normally sends out new growth along the pleachers of a laid hedge rather than from the stools, so I was a little hesitant to take the job on. However, I advised the client that this might be the case and they were still happy for me to proceed.

Beech is a closely grained hardwood and doesn’t want to split easily therefore I had to be careful and accurate with my cutting. Some of the stems were also quite large. The axe in the above photo has a seven inch cutting edge!

Despite the challenges, all went very well and it wasn’t too long before I had finished the first hedge.

Hedges two and three were shorter in length, but also not without challenge.

Hedge two had a compost clamp on the off side, which was sometimes difficult to work around, but the hedge does at least provide a good screen.

The third hedge was fairly straight forward and only took a couple of days to do.

Despite my initial reservations, the beech hedges were enjoyable to do and the client was delighted with the finished job. I have subsequently heard that the hedges have responded well and started to rejuvenate with great vigour during the 2025 growing season.