RHS Bridgewater, previously known as Worsley New Hall estate was taken over by the RHS in 2017 and completely transformed into the garden that we know today. The 154 acre estate was revived by the RHS, making it one of the largest gardening projects in Europe to date. The garden was open to the public in May 2021 after 4 years of planning, building and landscaping.
So where does Hortlands come into this exciting project? As experts in our field, the RHS approached our little brother company, The Tree and Hedge Company for advice on the supply and plant of 690 meters of Beech instant hedging. As they were building the garden themselves, almost from scratch, they required lots of advice and guidance on how to manage such a specialised product. We were happy to work alongside the RHS on this, sourcing and supplying the hedge for them and then being onsite to take delivery of the first lorry load. We then trained the Bridgewater team on the best practice for planting the hedge and ensuring successful establishment. It was a real collaboration between us and the RHS gardeners. We advised them on the equipment they would need to hire and once we made sure they were fully trained and confident to plant the hedging we left them to complete the planting around the build of the rest of the garden.
Beech hedging was chosen for its dense all year-round coverage, even when the leaves turn brown in late autumn, they do not fall off until the new leaves bud and push the old ones off in spring. A massive 11 artic lorry loads of the beech hedge was delivered to the garden in total. It was purposed that the hedge would all be planted during one winter period, but due to some extremely poor weather conditions the plant was actually finished across two winters in the end.
The hedging is a very integral aspect of the overall garden design and is one of the first things you see when entering the walled garden itself. It frames the learning garden, wellbeing garden and community garden in the style of a wall, separating each of the different areas. It also encases some smaller gardens, also known as the community yards, where you can see how different planting schemes can work in smaller spaces. It is also used to shield some staff offices that are inside the garden, so they are hidden away from the public.
Caroline, who lead this project for Bridgewater says:
“The instant hedge is so impressive, it’s all my team could talk about for almost two years. We really enjoyed learning how to plant and care for the hedge pieces, we became really good at fitting it all together, almost like hedge Tetris! We got so many questions about the hedge in the first 2 years of opening the garden, people simply couldn’t believe we had such a healthy and established hedge in a brand-new garden. It really has been integral to shaping the garden right from the beginning.” Caroline Williamson – Team Leader Outer Wall Garden
We loved working with the talented RHS team on this project, sharing our years of experience and expertise in the field. It was an amazing project to be a part of and we are proud to say we helped to get the garden looking as beautiful as what it does today.
A respected local developer contacted Hortlands to discuss screening a newly developed bock of flats from a busy road and footpath just outside London.
Hortlands were consulted on the regeneration of a large yew hedge which had succumbed to damage from deer and poor pruning.
