Heggen-vlechten in Nederland

Last week I was very fortunate to be able to join a small team of hedge layers from the south of England on a trip to The Netherlands. The purpose of the trip was to help with some commercial hedge laying, provide training opportunities and to take part in the annual Maasheggenvlechten hedgelaying festival.

Hedgelaying in The Netherlands had all but died out after the last world war but there has been a strong revival in the last ten years led by a small but dynamic group of enthusiasts, supported by local authorities and conservation organisations. The old style of hedge laying used in The Netherlands is shrouded in the mists of time with very little documentary evidence available. The style now practised is the subject of much discussion as to it's heritage but it is accepted as authentic in some quarters, although there are moves to adopt a more 'English' style in some areas.

As you can imagine I took a lot of photos and a selection of these can be found here.

Our first day was spent laying a section of a rather nice hedge that was to be part of a new bridle way with a new hedge planted alongside. As you can see it was a bright frost morning. The hedge has been topped in the past and some of the stems are large and multi-part.

We were laying this on a commercial basis and so worked as a team, with a chainsaw cutter working with a layer, followed up by two others staking, binding and tidying up. A reported from a Dutch Radio and TV station had joined us at our hotel after breakfast and accompanied us to the hedge, doing live radio interviews for the morning news programme and making a short film that was broadcast on the evening TV news - fame at last!

 It was a nice bright day so we cracked on at a good pace and, with three Dutch teams laying short cants, we completed 175 meters, which for the English team equated to about 30 meters per man.

With hazel stakes and binders being in short supply in The Netherlands our hosts had procured chestnut 'tomato stakes' from France, which were un-cleft and about and inch and a half to two inches in diameter. A good size for fitting in the hedge centre but slightly shorter in length than would have been ideal. The binders were willow and very nice indeed, being fresh, a good length, free from side branches and of a consistent diameter.

The end result was very pleasing and, as it was my task for the day, if I don't know how to stake and bind a SoE hedge now, I never will. You can see that a new fence is being erected on the left and a new hedge will be planted alongside this.

A great treat for me was the appearance of a dozen or so White Storks. There was a nesting area just over the river at the end of the hedge and on several occasions during the day they circled overhead in a communal display. I believe these to be descendants of birds reintroduced to the area in the late 1960s.

On day two we helped out with a training session for about twenty people who had signed up for a six day course on hedge management. This was the final day of the course and was a session of practical hedge laying in SoE style. The students had attended talks on hedge management and had some previous experience of cutting and laying. All were very enthusiastic and keen to get hands-on with the hedge. Our host Lex Roeleveld from Sichting Heg-en-Ladschap (The Hedge and Landscape Foundation) gave a short introductory talk and Phil followed this with a short session on tools and tool sharpening.

The hedge was a mixed species maiden of about twelve years and part had been laid by the students in a previous session.

Most of the stems were easily manageable with hand tools but there were a few that presented a challenge but this young woman did a great job cutting the pleach and removing the large heal with her axe.

As you can see the hedge was not very bushy and very little material was removed. However the finished product was a good, stock-proof hedge and a credit to the students.

 Day three saw us move to another area of the country, closer to the German border and near the river Maas. We were working with members of the Heggengilde, an association of professional hedge layers. They were interested in seeing English commercial hedge laying techniques and to brush up on their axe work. A 75 meter section of Hawthorn hedge was chosen as being suitable for chainsaw work and typical of what you might expect on a commercial job. Perhaps a bit heavy for axe work but these were experienced cutters.

Here we see a familiar figure in blue overalls demonstrating the tricks of the trade - the most important of which is how to quickly decide what is coming out of the hedge before pleaching the stem.

One of the Guild members gets in some axe work.

  

 It's not very often that you get to eat lunch al fresco in temperatures of 17c in early March. And what a lunch it was - home smoked salmon, 'hedgelayers' soup and fried egg and ham sandwiches.

The finished hedge featuring a nice smooth 90 degree turn.

 I think I'll cover the competition in a separate post tomorrow.