Home Farm Hedges

Miles Duncan, the tenant of Home Farm, Landican

Home Farm, part of the Leverhulme Cheshire Estate, lies in mid Wirral in the centre of the settlement of Landican to the west of the cemetery of the same name. Wirral Countryside Volunteers (WCV) have worked there over the last seven years, laying over 700 metres of hedge with skill and dedication. Arnold Plumley, a Cheshire hedgelaying judge at local and national competitions, said “The hedges laid here are up to competition standard.”

Hedge planters at work

The volunteers ran their 14th, 19th and 20th hedge laying training days on the farm. The 14th training day was the largest training day to date with fifty-eight participants, including twenty students attracted from nearby Woodchurch High School.

WCV planted over six hundred hedgerow whips to form a hedge in the Thingwall Corner Field and planted 200 trees to form a shelterbelt. The volunteers christened the shelterbelt “Rough Shoots Wood” from the field name on the 1847 Landican tithe map. New volunteers were surprised by the effort it took to plant hedgerow whips; five hours of digging is a good workout! When hedgerow planting, lunch was in a neighbour’s garden overlooking the freshly planted hedgerow in the warm January sun.

Hedge planters having a welcome lunch break!

On the 20th hedgelaying training event in February, the volunteers were equally blessed with the weather and laid 168 metres of hedge between the preparation day, the main day itself and a follow up day. This is by far the longest length laid on a training event, reflecting the hedge used and the increased proficiency of the volunteers at hedge laying. It is pleasing to see over the years trainees have developed into trainers.

The WCV have worked in conjunction with Miles Duncan the tenant of Home Farm, Landican.  Miles is so encouraging and greatly appreciates the input of the volunteers and has given generous donations to the volunteers. A professional hedgerow condition survey was made in November 2024 showing ten kilometres of the Landican hedgerows (see below extract showing the areas tackled by the WCV). The report found 3% of hedges were largely gappy (really only self-seeded), 3% in poor condition, 36% in moderate condition and a stunning 58% in good condition.

There were 151 hedgerow trees recorded in the 10-kilometre survey which was also above the survey target of one hundred trees per 10km. When hedge laying the volunteers take the opportunity to keep some trees, mainly crab apples, to promote as future hedgerow trees.  Several kilometres of hedges were planted 10 -15 years ago and the WCV are working to lay them so that the farm looks much more hedged than it had been. Since the report, WCV have planted 150 metres of hedge and laid another 168 metres, putting another 3% of the Home Farm Landican hedges into the good or improving category. 

Map of Home Farm, showing condition of the hedges

Next winter season the volunteers hope to be working on establishing a hedgerow from the former agricultural worker cottages on the sharp bend of Landican Lane, west to Home Farm itself and continue to host further hedge laying training days at Home Farm. Look at the Wirral Countryside Volunteers website in the autumn for further updates.

Paul Loughnane, Secretary, Wirral Countryside Volunteers