fencing

[Philipj.cosson]

Has anyone any experience of hazel hurdles? Looks like a low maintenance, classic fence material - if a bit expensive initially.

How long do they last?

Philip

[Mary Fisher]

Hundreds of years. They're found in archaeological sites.

Mary

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yup be sure to bury yours under a huge midden if you want it to last.

Simply having it doing a useful job is not enough.

It will disintegrate in 20 years outside.

Originally used for ultra cheap portable fencing. Till the proper hedge grew or the sheep needed penning somewhere else.

Now infested with a romantic quality and a price to rip off suburbanites.

[EricP]

They were early mans DIY fencing. Cheap and easily made disposable fence. A friend used to make them and showed me how. A very satisfying if hard on the hands experience.

Now an expensive but useful item for the garden.

Depends what you use them for. Decoration is a non-stressed state, many years. As a working fence, about as long as a £6 6'x 4' panel from B&Q.

They really just make an interesting and different "traditional" look decoration for the garden.

[AJH]

Actually life will vary as to the time of year the rods are harvested, traditionally the coppice was cut in the winter months (those with an "r" in the name) and the material worked up within three weeks of cutting. Now they're cut whenever there is a market.

AJH

[Tony Williams]

[about hazel hurdles]

I built a woven hazel fence. About 3 years for it to dry out and become brittle. 5 years for it to begin to break up. I left a number of thick hazel branches in a pile, to go through the woodburner at some time. They went to a punk and disintegrated before I could get back to them.

[Mary Fisher]

No it won't.

Daughter's farm had some already there when they bought it twenty years ago, it's still going strong. This in wet and windy Wales.

Mary