‘He does like to talk’, I was forewarned by Tim, who provided the introduction. ‘But he does know how to lay a hedge’. His left hand, I noticed was kept in his pocket until he forgot to hide it, and the shake was noticable. Challenging with a chain saw.
As we walked down: ‘Ah an oak nuttery. Good. Hornbeam. Good for burning. Used for cogs in windmills because it was strong. Double ponds were made for fish when fish were valued. You kept stocked in one pond and grew in the other. Yellow iris would be good. Don’t get that Norfolk reed, it will go crazy.’
We walked to the northern boundary.
‘I aint going to tell you it will all be perfect. The Oak’ll drown all the light – always does. But it’s got two chances’.
‘We could lay the back layer to the front, he suggested. Turning the west side, as the suns setting. So he lay a thorn with care and precision. ‘Trouble with Field Maple, they never like being laid.
He sharpened his Bill hock on a stone
As we took our leave he noticed a bat pushing the insects into he wood.
I continued laying what I could manage using my handsaw. Such satisfaction. My inclination is to cut back the budding stems to minimise the energy needed to repair and grow to the light.
Ponds are still full. Dog still wants stick.
Planted out bulbs, lilly of the valley, wild garlic and blue bells.
So it goes. The Archers reference hedge laying. As David struggles with the leave or not leave Brookfield, he loiters beside a hedge lovingly laid by his father all those years ago.
Lawrance (Paul was busy, Alan at a Cambridge hedge competition) completed the hedge lay of the Northern Boundary. £300
Kaliwood 