Hedges

I have been driving a lot around Devon and Somerset over the last few weeks, and it never ceases to amaze me the difference in the skill of those hedge cutting the sides of our roads. Sometimes there is a real artist at work; the hedges are cut cleanly, the trees left alone and the mess is minimal. You can see the care and attention to the plethora of species that comprise a good English hedge. Others are positively barbaric and I wonder if the blades of the cutters are ever sharpened, if they even know or care about the difference between a hedge and a tree? Branches and trunks are skinned, half cut off and shredded and the whole is a complete and hopeless mess with blackthorn and gelder rose strewn all over the road. I wonder if they have a contra deal with the local tyre fitters. How many times have I lost a tyre to the sharp point of a blackthorn? But there is one overriding observation – spring is definitely round the corner.