Crafty volunteers get
stuck in
Volunteers from the Kentish Stour Countryside Project
are helping to keep ‘rural crafts’ alive at the Grove Ferry picnic
site near Upstreet.
On Sunday 20th and Thursday 24th
of February conservation volunteers from KSCP will be hedge laying at the
popular picnic site which lies next to the Stodmarsh National Nature
Reserve.
Hedge laying is an ancient craft which has
been practiced since the 18th century as a way of keeping
hedgerows healthy an in trim. Over the years hedge laying became a skilled
craft and a well-laid hedge a point of pride to farmer and labourer. There
is a degree of regional variation and the method used in Kent, the ‘South
of England’ style is particularly attractive.
Jason Mitchell, a Countryside Officer working for the
KSCP explained, "The hedge plant is cut part way through at it’s
base and ‘layed’ at a degree of about 40%, it is kept upright using
stakes. The stakes are then held by weaving ‘bindings’ or ‘heatherings’
through their tops, which also form a decorative cap".
Anyone interested in helping with the hedge laying or
joining the Kentish Stour Countryside Project on one of their many
practical conservation tasks, please ring Jason Mitchell on 01233 813307.
