Routine cuts done properly, on every species I work with.

What's included

• Top, sides and front face cut to your chosen height and width
• All arisings cleared from site and disposed of properly (Margate HWRC on Manston Road for garden waste; chipped for reuse where it makes sense)
• Brush-down of the path, lawn or driveway underneath
• Six-week section-211 notice filed on your behalf if the hedge is close to Goodnestone Park or the church and has any stems over 75mm at chest height
• Fixed price quoted in advance, no day-rate creep

Pricing

Most routine cuts in Goodnestone and the surrounding villages fall in the £120 – £400 range depending on hedge length, height, and how much access I need. Fixed price after seeing photos and the postcode, no surprises on the day, no charge if the quote isn't accepted.

Timing by species: field-boundary and formal hedges

Formal hedges near the church and Park want a firmer, twice-a-year cadence, one late spring, one late summer, so they stay crisp against the listed buildings around them. Native field-boundary hedges further out towards Chillenden and Knowlton are usually happy with a single annual cut in late summer, once the nesting season has cleared.

• Escallonia, Griselinia littoralis, Olearia macrodonta: the seafront workhorses. Two light cuts a year (late May and mid-September) keep the density that shelters the plants behind them.
• Elaeagnus × ebbingei, Euonymus japonicus: twice a year, similar cadence. Very forgiving of a hard clip once established.
• Privet, Leylandii, thuja: fast-growing, twice a year (late spring and late summer).
• Field maple: a single late-summer cut is enough; the classic native field-boundary tree-into-hedge species around here.
• Hawthorn: winter only (September to February) to comply with nesting law; the reliable native option on Goodnestone' thin chalk topsoil.
• Yew: single late-August cut; happy with a hard clip once a year and resentful of more. Native to the North Downs chalk, the traditional choice for formal hedging close to the church and Park.
• Holly, laurel: late summer; both bruise easily, so secateurs and loppers on visible faces over a hedge trimmer where time allows.

Cliff-adjacent and roof-adjacent work

If the hedge has real cover, thick evergreen or a mature native mix, I check for active nests before any March-to-August work goes ahead (extending into September for late broods), under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. In practice: no work into an active nest until the young have fledged. This is written into every quote where it applies.

What I don't do on cutting jobs

If a hedge needs more than a routine cut: it's overgrown, gappy, leaning, or has outgrown the position, that's a reduction job, not a cut. I tell you that at quote stage rather than do a botched cut and pretend it solved the problem.