A well-kept hedge does three jobs: aesthetics, privacy, security. We keep all three sharp — from small landscaped hedges to large perimeter hedgelines.
Domestic & commercial
Hedgelines serve a range of functions — aesthetic, privacy, and security among them. A regular cutting schedule keeps a hedge looking 'trained' — tight, full, and requiring less and less work each round.
Serving Brighton, Hove, Ringmer, Lewes, Seaford, Shoreham, Henfield, Worthing and all surrounding BN postcodes.
01 — Any scale
We have the equipment and the expertise to manage hedges of any size — from small landscaped hedges in a domestic garden to the large perimeter hedgelines that mark the boundary of a property or commercial site.
For regular customers, we can put your hedge onto a maintenance schedule — two or three visits a year, at the right points in the growing season, so it never gets away from you.
02 — Trained to stay trained
Regular hedge maintenance develops a 'trained' appearance that is tight and full. Trained hedges also need less cutting in the future, because the growth pattern becomes predictable and contained.
One-off reshapes are also available for hedges that have got away from their owners — we'll bring the hedgeline back into shape and, if you want, start the maintenance schedule from there.
Signs to watch for
A shortlist of the scenarios that bring customers to this service — if any of them look familiar, it's probably time for a conversation.
A hedge that wasn't cut back hard enough last season loses an inch. Five years of that and you've lost a metre of garden. A proper reshape reclaims the footprint; a maintenance schedule keeps it there.
Thin at the crown, heavy in the middle, bare patches appearing. Usually means it's been cut too shallow for too long. Reshape cuts re-establish a sharp top line and thicken what follows.
Lower growth dying back while the top stays dense — classic sign of a hedge that needs light let back in. Careful reduction at height plus undercutting restores the bottom.
Front hedge blocking kerbside visibility. Side hedge shading the patio. Reduction to a more sensible height and width solves both without removing the hedge.
Already on top of it and just want someone reliable to keep it there? We run maintenance schedules for domestic and commercial customers — two or three visits a year, booked in advance, turn up and do it.
Sharp, tight hedges transform kerb appeal. A pre-sale cut is one of the highest-return small jobs we do.
What to expect
From the first phone call to the last leaf cleared — the order of operations on a typical Branchwalkers job.
Free assessment. We identify the species (which dictates timing and cutting tolerance), measure the run, and listen to what you want — just a trim, a reshape, or a scheduled programme.
Within 48 hours. Flat price for a one-off. Annual/biannual rate for maintenance. Clear scope — height, width, access arrangements, waste disposal included or not.
If we're working between March and August, we carry out a pre-cut nest check. Nests found means we work around them — or postpone that section until fledglings have flown. Legal obligation; also just the right thing.
Hand-held power shears for most domestic; pole shears for tall or awkward; mechanical flail for big commercial lines. Clean tops, consistent sides, sharp corners. We drop sheets below to catch clippings.
Everything raked, swept, bagged or chipped. Arisings taken off-site and recycled for biomass — or composted on your plot if you want.
In Sussex specifically
Sussex hedge stock leans heavily on a few species, and each wants different handling. Beech — classic Sussex garden hedge, holds dead leaf through winter, responds beautifully to annual shaping in late August. Yew — common around churchyards, estate boundaries, and older Hove and Lewes gardens; slow-growing, tolerates very hard reduction, best cut late summer or early autumn. Privet and laurel — ubiquitous 20th-century suburban hedging, forgiving, cut twice a year. Leylandii — heavy 1970s and 1980s planting, now a headache for homeowners who've inherited a 10m wall; we reduce these where we can and advise on replacement where they're too far gone. Hornbeam and hawthorn — traditional country-garden hedging, responds well to rotation. Bird nesting season runs March through August and drives our scheduling — we check every hedge before we cut in that window, and will rearrange work to keep a nesting hedge intact.
Frequently asked
Straight answers to the questions that come up most often on site visits. Not here? Pick up the phone — we're happy to get into the detail.
Depends on the species. Most formal hedges (privet, laurel, beech, hornbeam) want a cut in late summer — August into early September — when growth has slowed but there's time to firm up before winter. Yew late summer or early autumn. Leylandii and conifers once or twice a year, avoiding very hot periods. For reshapes we can often cut harder in late winter or very early spring, before leaf-out.
Nesting season runs March to August and actively nesting hedges can't be cut — it's a legal protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, not just good manners. We do a nest check before any work in that window and rearrange around any nests found. Winter cuts avoid the issue entirely if timing allows.
Usually, yes — most hedge species tolerate significant reduction, especially deciduous ones and yew. Leylandii is the exception: cutting into old brown wood won't regrow, so you can reduce its height (it'll resprout from the top) but not its width below the green layer. We'll tell you honestly what's possible for your specific hedge.
Most formal hedges want at least one annual cut; faster-growing species (leylandii, privet, laurel) prefer two — one early summer, one late summer. Informal country hedges can be less frequent. Commercial or boundary hedges on show should be cut as often as they need to stay sharp — usually two, sometimes three.
Your call. We can chip and remove everything, recycle for biomass, or compost on your plot. For big hedge jobs we bring a chipper and take waste off-site; for small domestic we often bag and take away.
Yes — removal, stump grinding, and site reinstatement. Sometimes a hedge has simply had its day (inherited leylandii wall, dying mature privet), and a clean removal plus replanting with something proportionate is the right answer.
Frequently. Leylandii is probably the single most common call we get in Brighton, Hove and the surrounding villages. We'll reduce, reshape, maintain, or remove — and we'll give you an honest assessment of what's achievable given how much old brown wood is in the middle.
Yes — two or three visits a year, booked in advance, on a rolling schedule. Popular with busy homeowners and commercial sites with boundary hedges that have to stay sharp. Same crew each time, no need to re-explain the layout.
Adjacent services
When it's a tree rather than a hedge that needs lighter, reshaping work.
For gardens that have gone far beyond a trim — overgrown, undergrown, reset.
If a hedge doubles as a tree line with protected specimens — we handle the paperwork.
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Whether it's a one-off reshape or a maintenance schedule, send us a photo and a postcode and we'll be back to you within the day.
0800 567 7433Or request a quote online — replies within 48 hours