Dover · Dour valley · Clifftop villages · CT15–CT17
Cutting, reduction, removal and planting across Dover, the Dour valley and the downland fringe. Fully insured. We plan around the bird-nesting window (1 March to 31 August). Six-week conservation-area notice handled for you.
What we do
Specified for Dover's chalk downland, coastal salt exposure and the Dour valley loams, and for the DDC conservation-area rules that cover the town centre and most outlying villages.
Annual or twice-yearly cuts on privet, yew, hornbeam, beech, holly and laurel. Clean lines, on-site arisings cleared, no power tools after 6pm.
See pricing & timingBringing overgrown hedges back into proportion, including the leylandii runs across Buckland, Tower Hamlets and the Whitfield new-builds. Staged where the species needs it.
How we reduce safelyFull removal with grinder access, root-ball lift where it's worth saving, and chalk-soil reinstatement. Tree-protection check first if you're in a CA or near the Kent Downs boundary.
What removal involvesThe right species for Dover's alkaline chalk, salt-tolerant outer windbreaks for clifftop plots, and an honest steer away from box after the blight and caterpillar wave.
Plan a new hedgeOur promise
We don't ask for payment until you've walked the hedge with us and you're happy. If we haven't done what we said we'd do, we put it right or you owe us nothing. No deposits, no upfront, no chasing.
Anyone on a state pension, automatically. No card, no proof of anything. Just mention it when you book. Honour system; we trust people.
Used us before? Your next job over £500 gets 10% off, no time limit, no asking. It's logged when we send the quote; you don't need to remind us.
Why local matters
Most of Dover sits on Chalk Group limestone. On the downland tops and the clifftop plateau at Capel and St Margaret's, you get thin rendzinas: a dark humic layer under 30 cm deep straight onto weathered chalk. Free-draining, alkaline at pH 7.5 to 8.0, and drought-prone in the first two summers of establishment. The Dour valley through River, Kearsney and Temple Ewell is different: deeper loam over hillwash and alluvium, moister, easier ground.
Rainfall here sits at around 700 to 750 mm a year, well below the UK average. That, and the free-draining chalk, means new hedges need watering through summer one and summer two. Salt-laden south-westerlies hit clifftop plots hard from November to February. We build the outer windbreak from Griselinia, Elaeagnus or Escallonia and let the inner formal hedge grow up in the shelter.
In a conservation area?
Dover District Council has designated 57 conservation areas across the district, from Dover Town Centre and Buckland out to St Margaret's-at-Cliffe, Kingsdown and Sandwich. If any single stem in the hedge is over 75 mm diameter at 1.5 m, section 211 of the TCPA 1990 requires six weeks' written notice before pruning or felling. We file the notice on your behalf, included in every quote.
Recent work
A running log of jobs around Dover and the surrounding villages. Updated as we finish them.
Send a couple of photos and a postcode. We'll come back same-day with a fixed price and the next available date.