Finding a hedgelayer

What to ask a hedgelayer

Grants for hedgerow management

First find your hedgelayer.......
 
Contact me first especially if you live in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire or Hertfordshire.
Work further afield is also possible where there is several days work - don't be shy to ask!!!
I can be tempted by overseas hedgelaying expeditions so don't assume you're too far away. 

From the Diary of a Hedgelayer entries you can see examples of my work.  Specifically, I offer:

  • 15 years experience
  • Surveys and quotations without obligation
  • Hedgelaying for both farms and gardens
  • Public Liability Insurance
  • National Proficiency Tests Council Hedgelaying and Chainsaw certification
  • To tell you if your hedge isn't suitable for laying and what management is appropriate
  • To tell you if your hedge is best left a few years before being laid
Look for hedgelayers advertising in local newspapers
Look in the Yellow Pages under Garden Services and Agricultural Contractors
Look for advertising signs put up by laid hedges or find out who has laid other hedges locally
If there are hedgelaying competitions in your area go along and find a local competitor
Contact the National Hedgelaying Society Secretary for local hedgelayers in your area
Your hedge may meet the British Trust for Conservation Volunteer's criteria for them to take it on as a project.  BTCV involvement is particularly appropriate where it will visibly enhance the local environment and/or where local community involvement may be advantageous.  The hedge must be suitable for volunteers to work on and BTCV involvement can also prove very cost effective.  Your local BTCV office can advise.  Garden hedges are not suitable for BTCV but they may be able to advise on local hedgelayers.

Having found a hedgelayer.......
 
They will need to visit your hedge to make sure it is suitable and assess the effort required
Ask to see photos of hedges they have laid (preferably before and after) or look at hedges they have laid
Ask what hedgelaying style they propose and why.  If they give you a blank look, beware!  Local styles should be encouraged as much as possible. 
Ask whether the price includes stakes and binders, if appropriate, and where these are coming from - ideally the hedging materials should be helping to sustain coppice woodland habitats
Ask whether the price quoted includes clearing up all the offcuts - there are always more of these than you think but be aware that this will significantly add to the cost
If it is a large overgrown hedge then there should be plenty of useable firewood.  Make it clear if you want this yourself and that you want it cut to length and stacked separately.

Possible sources of grant assistance.......
 
The English Nature Biodiversity Grant Scheme which used to provide support for ancient and/or species rich hedges covering planting and/or laying is now defunct.  However, the link below gives details of various sources of grant funding which in certain circumstances could fund hedgerow management:
 
Link to   grant information

The Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) supports hedgerow management under its Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) which can assist with hedgelaying and hedge planting.  The Countryside Stewardship Scheme is geared to farms or applicants with agricultural landholding certificates and is not suitable where there is just a single stretch of hedge to be laid.  

Countryside Stewardship is being phased out and superceded by the new Environmental Stewardship scheme in 2005.  There will be three tiers to Environmental Stewardship scheme.  Support for hedge planting and hedgelaying will be available at the lowest level - Entry Level Stewardship.  It has not yet been announced what payment levels will be made for hedging under Environmental Stewardship.
 
Link to  grant information

You may also find small local pots of money available within the Countryside Management section of your local county council where amenity or landscape improvement grant money might be available.  To qualify, your hedge is definitely going to have to be visible to the public, e.g. by a road or a footpath.