Hedge laid

Spent the day at Hilfield and enjoyed beauty of the place and surrounding countryside.  I took a walk through Hermit's Wood and here is the result of hedge laying.  The cut and woven hedge is now established and the new young shoots are beginning to grow out and upwards to make a stronger barrier. Different areas of the country have different methods.  Sheep are in the next field.  Also on the right is the result of past coppicing where the hazel has been encouraged to grow shoots as straight as can be. The sticks were then cut, bent and woven together to make hurdles again for herding animals together in pens.  This very rarely happens now, steel hurdles are used in their place but one can still come upon the old coppices, we have one one on the farm on the edges of the gulley.
Extra photos: Hilfield, and one of their Dorset Polled sheep