Strimming and overgrowth clearance in Broadclyst

The parish sits on low red soil where the Clyst runs slowly through flat meadow, and that ground holds water long after the surrounding land has drained. Growth here starts earlier than almost anywhere else on this list and carries on later, which is a nuisance for anybody trying to keep on top of it with a mower.

It also means the first cut of the year is a big one. Where a boundary or a paddock margin has been left from the previous autumn, what is standing by May is a proper clearance rather than a tidy up.

There is a long run of distinctive estate cottages through the parish, along with cob and thatch around the church and the old village street. Old properties come with old boundaries: mature hedges whose bases have crept out, banks that have been where they are for centuries, and stone and cob walls that a metal blade must stay away from.

Hedge base work is one of the commonest jobs here. Growth is strimmed out from under the hedge and pulled off the stems so the line is clear again, which is quiet, slow, careful work and quite different from cutting open grass.

Killerton and its estate sit alongside the village, and the parish carries a lot of old orchard and permanent grassland. Orchard grass under trees stands high, stays damp in the shade and needs cutting in two passes with plenty of hand work around the trunks.

Where ground is old grassland rather than lawn it is worth asking what is wanted from it. Taking it right to the ground every time is not always the right answer, and a higher cut leaving the sward intact is a perfectly reasonable instruction to give.

Working farms and smallholdings run through the parish, and their boundary work is measured in hundreds of metres rather than square metres. That is day work, and the arisings normally stay where they fall.

Access is good, with farm gateways, yards and wide lanes, so almost all of the time booked goes into cutting rather than logistics.

New planting, permissive paths and restored meadow ground have gone in across the Clyst Valley Regional Park, and properties bordering it inherit the margins. Young planting needs the grass kept off it, and a path edge grows out into the path within a season.

That is light, quick work compared with old hedgebank clearance, but it wants doing at the right time of year, and cutting around new whips means a nylon head and a bit of patience rather than a blade at speed.

Anything cut on the park edge is normally left to rot down where it falls, which suits the ground and costs nothing, and removal is only worth paying for where the material would sit somewhere it is in the way.