Next round of hedge-laying.

This last week I’ve been back with my team of volunteers to High Snab Farm to make a start on some more hedge-laying.  The weather is so mild at the moment that it’s a good opportunity to start to get the hedges down. 

There are lots of styles of hedge-laying around the country.  Each will have developed as the most suitable for the conditions in the local area so it’s important to use the local technique. Here we lay our hedges relatively close to the ground and, although we weave the plants into one another, we do not do it at a 45 degree angle and add a stock fence because the wind would simply blow it over and rip out the plants. 

We cut and weave them fairly close to the ground early in the year which gives new growth time to strengthen before the worst winds later on.  We lay the hedges in each area on a rotational basis to ensure there are plenty of nesting sites for birds. And the time for hedge laying is autumn through to early spring before the sap is rising.

The volunteers enjoy returning to High Snab.  We always have a very friendly welcome there plus the bonus of cups of tea at lunch-time!  It was also a good opportunity for the volunteers to walk around the field boundaries to see the progress of the hedges they worked on last year.

To add to the experience, we get to see any new changes Tom (farmer) has made.  Over the years he has farmed High Snab, he has worked extremely hard to make as good a fell farm as it can be.  You can read more about the farm, the holiday cottage and their camping barn here.

Daisy here:  

I’ve been bad, very bad.  I found a pie in a rucksack.  I’ve never seen Roy so cross.  Apparently dogs are only supposed to eat dog food.