Tall Order As Maze Takes High-Tech Approach To Hedge Trimming

Gardeners at Longleat have come up with a novel new way to dramatically speed up cutting their world-famous hedge maze – by using stilts.

The maze has undergone a final cut prior to re-opening to the public for the start of the new season on February 11th. We will be brining you all the latest and exciting news from Longleat shortly. 

Made up of more than 16,000 English yew trees, with 2.8kms of pathways and covering an area of 0.6 hectares, the Longleat hedge maze is one of the largest in the world. With an average height of two metres, gardeners previously had to use scaffolding to reach the top and it took a team of up to five people more than a week to complete. However, since the introduction of the stilts, two staff are now able to finish the task in less than half the time.

Paul Thompson, Longleat's Deputy Grounds Manager, said: "Previously we used an 'H'-frame scaffold tower with a platform on it. We would normally cut two to three metres of hedge using this technique before having to get down and move the tower each time. All the gardeners are fully trained and we have had to do a series of specific risk assessments for using the stilts but it makes what was once a long, rather boring job, a lot more fun and much less energy-sapping," he added.

The pre-season cut is only for the top of the hedges while the sides will normally be trimmed prior to main summer season.

The Maze was commissioned by Lord Bath and designed by Greg Bright. It was laid out in 1975 and is planted entirely of English Yew (Taxus baccata). The maze is three dimensional in that there are six bridges built from timber for visitors to navigate.

You can see a video of the maze at Longleat being cut here

Longleat Opening Dates 2012:

Daily: Saturday 11th February – Sunday 19th February

Weekends Only: Saturday 25th February – Sunday 18th March

Daily: Saturday 24th March – Sunday 4th November

New attractions coming in 2012 include Giraffe Feeding, Cheetah Kingdom, Lemur Walkthrough and a new colony of Gorillas. For more information visit www.longleat.co.uk