Category Archives: Hedge Politics

Forthcoming hedge symposium – Univ of Staffordshire September

This is from Emily Ledder, Chair of Hedgelink, which is a rather useful organisation: “Hedgelink, (www.hedgelink.org.uk) which is the partnership that brings everyone interested in hedgerows together, to share knowledge and ideas, to encourage and inspire, and to work with … Continue reading

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Filed under Everyday Hedges, Hedge Politics

A Post About Hedges

Just linking to a rather interesting blog post I stumbled over this morning… “As I stood there in the garden, watching off road fork-lifts deposit yews taller than my head into a pre-dug trench, while internally debating how minutely kinked … Continue reading

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Hedgelike objects: an introduction

One thing I have talked about in the book is what I like to call ‘hedgelike objects’. In public areas of housing estates, on patches of waste ground, on industrial estates and on traffic islands, you often see shrubs and … Continue reading

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Filed under Gardening Thoughts, Hedge Politics

Requiem for Cowm Top

I spent Wednesday afternoon being walked up and down muddy lanes in Rochdale by my wife. Rather than consulting a map she had decided to trust to some rather distant childhood memories of the route, so it took a while … Continue reading

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Filed under Hedge Politics, Rural Britain

“Juniper Toffee and Elderflower Delight”

Just a quick plug for John Wright’s lovely book on food from the hedgerow: Hedgerow (River Cottage Handbook)

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Filed under Everyday Hedges, Hedge Politics, Hedges and Biodiversity

Vivian Stanshall and Topiary

Vivan Stanshall is a much-missed genius of weirdness. In the book, I was going to use part of this quote from Rhinocratic Oaths by the Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band, for his lovely surreal take on the way that neighbours can … Continue reading

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Filed under Gardening Thoughts, Hedge Politics, Topiary

Who owns a hedge? (And the fence my neighbours burnt down)

One of today’s internet searches that led someone here was “who owns a hedge that was planted before tenants rented the property?” It’s an interesting question as the law over boundaries is fairly complex and there are various bits of … Continue reading

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Hedges, house price bubbles and rioting kids

Hedge Britannia is partly about the way that hedges represent the division of property, land and wealth in society. Like most people I’m disgusted by the rioting and firstly want the police, parents and politicians to get a grip on … Continue reading

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Adrian Mitchell, riots and firefighters

Nothing to do with hedges, just wanted to link to this post on Jen’s blog with a lovely quote from a letter by Adrian Mitchell… http://jen-campbell.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-heart-london.html

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Enclosures, hedges… and David Cameron

One reason why rural hedges are so important, and symbolic in British history is the enclosures, the process by which open fields and common land were divided into smaller, privately controlled plots of land. Enclosures were made from at least … Continue reading

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Filed under Enclosures, Hedge Politics, Rural Britain