BRITAIN’S BONSAI WOODS
Many hedges may be under threat, but Molly Barnes discovers the ancient art of hedgelaying is alive and kicking in the Marches.
Wynn Brown puts a flagon of cider by the distant gatepost and walks back to his tools: “Something to aim for,” he explains with a grin. Then he jerks his chainsaw into action and turns menacingly towards his neighbour’s Herefordshire hedge.
As he slashes brutally into the mass of hawthorn, ash, hazel, birch and oak, the passing motorist might be forgiven for thinking this is yet another act of environmental vandalism. And who could blame them? After all, since the last War, we have destroyed 80% of our hedges to make way for ever bigger and more efficient farm machines.
Wynn, however, is one of that dying breed of farmer: a traditional smallholder. Born and bred in the village where he still lives, he is a font of lost farm crafts, but his passion is the ancient art of creating a living hurdle to give protection from wind, snow and stock. This harnesses ‘cruel only to be kind’ techniques to nurse dying trees and shrubs back into vibrancy. Few GPs would treat an aging and infirm patient with a chainsaw, but in Wynn’s hands the tool expands the life expectancy of a sloe, hawthorn or field maple in a way that only Dr Who would recognise. The first time he attacks a neglected hedge its longevity is extended by decades. When he returns in 15 years this will become half a century – and should his son continue the work, the living barrier could survive into the 22nd century.
Hedges have been described as frames for the landscape. Look at any picture postcard of a rural idyll and you will see rolling fields divided by a lattice of dense green foliage. They are quintessentially British – cross the Channel and they virtually cease to exist, replaced by strip cultivation on a grand scale. But hedges are much more than an agricultural construct. They are a precious wildlife habitat and represent living archaeology. Indeed, when environmentalists rage against their destruction, all too often they forget that these are manmade structures.