Prince Charles was dressed in a coat, tweed cap and gloves to observe people laying hedges on his Highgrove Estate.
Charles is 73 years old and the patron of National Hedgelaying Society. He believes that hedgerows are the UK’s single largest nature reserve.
He previously spoke of the benefits that laying hedges can have on his health and for the environment.
Prepared for winter: Prince Charles, dressed in a coat & tweed cap as he watched people lay hedges on his Highgrove Estate today.
Charles is 73 years old and the patron of National Hedgelaying Society. He believes that hedgerows are the UK’s single largest nature reserve.
Charles was joined by National Hedgelaying Society members at Highgrove. This is the Gloucestershire estate that he shares in common with Camilla.
Charles and Camilla were joined today by members from the National Hedgelaying Society of Highgrove.
Charles has a passion for the management and plant of all his estates. He is working to make them eco-friendly.
Charles wrote a piece last month for Country Life magazine, marking his 73rd Birthday. He suggested that avenues of trees and hedgerows could be planted throughout the country in memory of those who died during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The prince even described how he battled with the prickly and shrubby trees every winter.
In his home in Highgrove, Gloucestershire, over the years he’s planted 15 miles of hedgerows. At Sandringham Estate, Norfolk (which he runs on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II), he encourages further hedgelaying.
Charles is very interested in all aspects of the running and planting of his estates and has taken steps to make them more environmentally-friendly. Image: Charles speaking today to Highgrove residents
Charles proposed avenues for planting hedgerows across the country as a way to remember those who were killed in the Covid-19 epidemic. Pictured, seeing hedges being planted
Charles said that “our remaining hedgerows remain the country’s biggest Nature reserve”, providing significant green corridors as well as food for wildlife and habitat.
“This is why I still struggle each winter with blackthorn branches and lethal hawthorn, even though I look like I just came off Agincourt’s field. I want to lay the hedges that I’ve planted in the 41 years I’ve been there.
Some 100,000 miles of the country’s hedgerows – four times the circumference of the earth – were lost between 1945 and 1985 in part due to rapid industrialisation of farming, Charles said.
Charles is impressed by the hard work done at Highgrove to plant hedges during Saturday’s event
For the outing, the prince wore a heavy-weight gardeners jacket and a flat cap made of tweed.
Prince Charles raised the possibility of planting trees in memory of pandemic victims. He wrote, “I have always felt avenues are wonderful enhancements to the landscape, give great pleasure to many people, and provide another way to plant more trees.
“Over the two-year period of this terrible pandemic I felt it was worth thinking about how to remember all the people who died by planting avenues in the memory of those affected in various parts of the country.