Cloud hedge

More lane wandering today, taking in the famous 'cloud hedge' in Brampton Bryan. The hedge runs for more than half a mile around the hall, church and castle remains and is believed to be the oldest and longest freeform yew hedge in Britain. Photographs from before the First World War show a neatly clipped, flat-topped hedge but the shortage of men to clip the yew during the war led to its more organic shape. Apparently it still takes three people a month to complete the annual trimming.