Hedge laying cost per metre (South Of England style)

[kav]

On 17/02/2026 at 17:51, spandit said:

Got a 90m hedge that needs laying in East Sussex. I'd like to tackle it myself but fear it's beyond me. Had one quote so far but wouldn't mind another one

Can you put up photo? We are say £18-30/m depending on size etc. Aiming for 2-2.5 stakes and binders a meter and you are looking at 6-8 quid in materials alone!

[AHPP]

1 hour ago, kav said:

Nice looking hedge to lay and your cuts look good. While we normally do South of England or Midland we have also laid similar using minimal stakes and no binders. Using a stake every 2m(ish) and on alternating sides. Use stakes to hold brash and the odd preacher round the outside if stake to 'lock in'. If that makes sense?

 

You beauty. 

[kav]

8 hours ago, AHPP said:

You beauty. 

If you look up North Somerset or Westmorland style I took inspiration from that. Stakes are trimmed to just under the brash. Not a 'pretty' as bound hedge but decent functional hedge

Hedgelaying Styles – National Hedgelaying Society

WWW.HEDGELAYING.ORG.UK

 

 

 

[AHPP]

I originally wanted to stake alternative sides, stake tops leaning in, then bind like a tent ridge to give it a bit more of a three dimensional build. There was no tension on the binding though so it was both useless and unsightly.

[Peewit]

On 17/02/2026 at 18:30, AHPP said:

Following with interest. I put over 30m of young easy going this morning and was planning to stake and bind so it’s vaguely South of England. Had a go with a bit of stuff I cut from a hazel stool. Probably three or four feet between stakes. It looks shit (so shit I’m going to pull it out tomorrow before too many people see it). Spoke to a mate who lays it. No wonder it looks shit. Done properly it uses three stakes and one binder per meter!

 

Anyway. Won’t be cheap. Off the top of my head, pulled out of my arse, back of a fag packet, frankly guessing, £40 a meter?

 

Tell us your quote when a couple more of us have had a guess.

 

SoE uses two stakes per yard and one binder per stake with two extra at the beginning and end of each run. 

Achieving a neat finish with SoE is easy with a few simple rules. 

1. Place every stake at exactly the same spacing - every 18". To achieve this my holly mallet which I cut from a tree, has a shaft of 18" so when I'm knocking stakes in I use it as a distance guage. 

2. Get the stakes in a straight, or regular, line wth no kinks and wiggles. This is harder. It is natural to eye each stake back against the line you've already knocked in. You swear they're perfectly in line but when the job's finished it looks like a dog's hind leg. As well as lining them up with those you've already put in, every four or five yards you need to walk back down the laid hedge and eye the line of stakes forwards against the hedge you've yet to lay. They should be heading for the centre of the unlaid hedge at all times. If they're starting to veer off to one side, you won't spot it and you'll automatically correct the course without thinking about it and so introduce a dog-leg. Walking back down your work every so often and eyeing them up the hedge as well as down helps to stop this happening.

3. Make corrections before you set the binders. Some stakes will be pulled out of line by pleachers under tension and no amount of fighting the pleacher will get the stake to stay where you want it. Wait til you're well past this troublesome stake and the hedge is woven in on either side, and very often you'll find you can pull it out and reposition it without the pleacher springing out. 

4. Adjust the stakes when the binders are in place but not dressed down. Few stakes are ever perfectly straight. With the binders holding them steady you can often take out a minor kink just by turning the stake in its hole without pulling it out.

If I get a really wayward one that can't be pulled out without springing the hedge, I'll ocasionally snip it off just below the top of the hedge line and put another stake in next to it in the right place. 

Edited 52 minutes ago by Peewit

[AHPP]

Mine’s tuned out nothing like South of England. Couldn’t be arsed binding. 
 

Someone help the OP with the rates.