Hedges are a key identifying feature marking Britain’s Rural Heritage. As a living barrier they enabled man not only to divide land, but also served to restrain flocks and herds before the invention of barbed wire. We discuss the history of the countryside, and the skill of Hedge laying, which was first documented by Julius Caesar in Flanders, and which he had recorded in The Gallic Wars.  Large hedgerows are also a primary habitat for numerous bird species, some of which nest at selected heights, also many insect and mammals live there, some of which may eventually disappear if hedges, and wildlife corridors, are not preserved.

We also discuss the important role that Beetle Banks and Field Margins play in non-insecticide, organic, and back to nature farming practices that are becoming big business. Hedges in some measure played a significant role in reducing wind turbulence and erosion across the countryside, and in windy areas they can help increase crop yield. We view slides of some of the biggest, and smallest, of Britain’s hedges, and establish the value of hedgerow trees that were put to a multitude of uses by our ancestors, and which are now experiencing a much welcomed revival in interest.

Some of the major styles of hedge laying which are peculiar to every region are also researched, and we view slides of competitors at the National Hedge laying Championship held at HRH The Prince of Wales’s Brookfield farm in the Cotswolds which draws to it the finest hedge laying craftsman in all the country

We consider the arguments for and against Leylandii conifers in our gardens and the court cases surrounding this much maligned yet valuable species for our garden birds.