Letters from Hillside

Dan Pearson considers the hedges: a haven for wildlife and markers of the landscape

THE hedges are particular to our landscape here in the Somerset Hills. They plunge steeply downwards from the high ground above us to parcel the fields and map the old domains. The downward hedges usually run along a drainage ditch with a spring channelled and sent towards the stream at the bottom. The arisings from the ditch provided the mound on which the hedge was planted and became an indicator of whose land was whose. Both hedge and ditch need to be on your land, the ditch easy to access from the field and the hedge on the outside and marking the boundary.

‘We follow the Old Way, an ancient droving route to an Iron Age hill fort’

Every morning when walking the dog, we