Share Trimming this country estate’s hedge has become one epic job for four gardeners who will spend the next three months working on the 30ft tall bushy wall.
The task will take them 1,000 hours as they trim over a mile of hedges at Montacute House, near Yeovil in Somerset.
The enormous yew hedges are famed for featuring in the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility and must be tended to every year to keep them healthy and neat.
Epic job: The gardeners have to use scaffolding and a cherry picker to reach the highest points of the yew hedges at Montacute House, near Yeovis in Somerset
The gardeners, who work in shifts two at a time at the National Trust-owned estate, are having to use scaffolding and a cherry picker to reach the highest points and once trimmed the clippings will fill a mind-boggling 600 wheelbarrows.
The hedges, which are around 15ft wide, were planted in the 1850s to shield the servants from the aristocratic householders using the gardens.
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The thick bushes grow between two and four inches a year and are cut back annually using electric cutters in a huge project at the end of every summer.
The unusual bumpy shape of one of the yews was caused by heavy snowfall in the winter of 1947, which caused it to collapse under the weight.
Film debut: The enormous yew hedges are famed for featuring in the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility, which starred Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant
FACTS ON THE HEDGE
- It is 30ft tall
- And 15ft wide
- The bushes grow between 2 and 4 inches a year
- It will take 1,000 hours in total to be trimmed
- It will take two gardeners 3 months - working 6 hours a day - to finish
- The clippings will fill 600 wheelbarrows
- The hedges were originally planted in the 1850s
- The Montacute House was built in the 16th century and has 12.5 acres of land
- It grew back naturally in the abstract shape before being featured in director Ang Lee's adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility
Lottie Allen, gardens and parks manager at Montacute House, said: "It will take two gardeners around three months to cut the hedges back, working six hours a day.
"It can sometimes feel like a never-ending task, but we do it every year to keep the yews looking their best.
"They grow between two to four inches a year, and start to look quite shaggy by the end of July.
"It's fairly soft growth so we can see where it was last year and cut it back to that.
"The length of time it takes depends very much on the weather.
"This year we're hoping to be finished by the end of September or beginning of October, but it has been known to still be cutting back in the new year.
"It's hard work but it's well worth it to keep the yews healthy and looking their best.
"The hedges were probably originally planted in the 1850s, when there was a big push to design the garden.
"Many of the hedges were designed to mask the activities of the servants, so they were hidden behind them while the family enjoyed the garden."
Grade I listed Montacute House, which has 12.5 acres, was built in the 16th century for Sir Edward Phelips.
It had numerous owners before it was passed onto the National Trust in the 1920s.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2041934/4-gardeners-spend-THREE-MONTHS-trimming-Montacute-House-hedge.html#ixzz1Z3Sqm3b6
