Tonbridge is a river town, and its trees follow the water: willows, alders and poplars along the banks, oaks and limes in the streets above.
Tonbridge
The Medway runs right through Tonbridge, past the castle gatehouse and out towards Haysden Country Park, and a lot of gardens back onto it or onto one of the streams that feed it. Riverside trees grow fast in that damp ground and need a different kind of care from garden trees on drier land.
Willows are the classic example. Left alone they get heavy and prone to splitting. Pollarded on a regular cycle, cut back to the same points every few years, they stay safe and keep sprouting for generations. It's an old technique that still makes sense on a Tonbridge riverbank.
Away from the water, the Victorian and Edwardian streets north of the High Street have the mature limes, planes and horse chestnuts you'd expect, many of them now too big for the gardens they were planted in.
Permissions
Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council
In Tonbridge, protected trees and conservation areas are the responsibility of Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council. A tree under a preservation order needs an approved application before any work; one in a conservation area needs six weeks' notice. We sort out both and keep you posted, so all you have to do is agree the work.
Services in Tonbridge
Pollarding riverside willows and reducing heavy limbs over the water, so the tree stays and the risk goes.
→Taking down poplars and willows that have become unstable on wet banks, sectioned and lowered rather than dropped.
→Grinding out stumps once a tree has gone, so the garden is usable right down to the bank.
→Clearing limbs brought down in wet, windy weather, when saturated ground makes trees likelier to fail.
→Cutting back laurel, privet and leylandii boundaries along the busier roads.
→Common here
Waterlogged ground loosens a tree's grip. If a riverside tree has started to lean after a wet winter, have it checked before the next gale.
Questions
Get a quote in Tonbridge
A photo and a postcode is enough to start. We'll ring to arrange a visit.
Or call 01632 960 123