Small fields, ancient woodland and old oaks on every boundary. Cranbrook sits in some of the most wooded countryside in England.
Cranbrook
Cranbrook is in the middle of the High Weald National Landscape, a patchwork of small fields edged by thick hedgerows and shaws, the narrow strips of woodland that run between them. Many gardens back straight onto that pattern, so a garden tree here is rarely far from a much older one.
The town's skyline belongs to Union Mill, built in 1814 and the tallest working smock mill in England, and its centre is full of weatherboarding and timber framing from its days as a cloth town. Old buildings and big trees sit very close together.
Out in the lanes, ash dieback has hit hedgerow ash hard. Dead and dying ash next to roads, drives and outbuildings is now one of the commonest reasons we're called out here, and it gets more brittle the longer it's left standing.
Permissions
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
Cranbrook falls under Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for preservation orders and for its conservation area. Out of town there's another layer: countryside hedgerows can come under the Hedgerow Regulations, which mean the council must be notified before certain hedgerows are taken out. Trimming is fine; removal needs checking first, and we do that before quoting.
Services in Cranbrook
Taking down dead and dying ash near lanes and buildings, in sections where it's too brittle to fell safely in one piece.
→Reducing old boundary oaks that lean over gardens and oast conversions, so the tree stays and so does the light.
→Trimming and reducing field and garden hedgerows outside the nesting season, with the rules checked if one is coming out.
→Clearing fallen trees from drives and lanes, often down roads too narrow for big machinery.
→Grinding stumps out with tracked machines that cope with slopes and soft ground.
→Common here
Hornbeam and sweet chestnut were coppiced across the Weald for centuries. Old coppice stools left to grow tall can become top-heavy and are worth keeping an eye on.
Questions
Get a quote in Cranbrook
A photo and a postcode is enough to start. We'll ring to arrange a visit.
Or call 01632 960 123