FREE one day Hedging Course with Tuition

Join expert waller and hedger Nic Kirkham at Pudsham Meadows in Dartmoor to get hands on and learn this fantastic rural skill. This course is suitable for beginners and those who would like to refresh their hedging skills. Teaching will be laid back, with plenty of opportunity for hands on experience and practical learning. No previous experience is needed and all tools will be provided. Hedgelaying is a traditional rural skill which may have been practiced on Dartmoor since the Bronze Age. People generally work in pairs, choosing which stems to cut low and which to partially cut, before bending and laying down. The cut trees won’t die, but will send up new shoots which increase the height of the hedge. If these are then trimmed in early summer, they will send out another 2 or 3 new shoots, forming a dense hedge. A second cut can be carried out in the autumn, after which the hedge can be left alone for up to 10 years. This hedge then becomes a corridor for wildlife, offering both food and protection as small mammals move through it. At Pudsham Meadows, we are keen to offer favourable habitat for Hazel Dormice, and hope to survey for these critically endangered animals later in the year. As well as attracting small mammals, hedges offer food and shelter for insects and birds, with the hazel, blackthorn and hawthorn trees used flowering and fruiting through the course of the year.