Deer Fencing at Toys Hill

Up near Toys Hill, with National Trust land close by, deer are simply part of the picture. Lovely to see, less lovely when they're working their way through everything you've planted. We were asked to put in estate and deer fencing that would actually keep them out — which means going tall, and building it to stand up to rough, sloping ground rather than a neat flat boundary.

We used cleft chestnut, riven down from our own coppiced timber. Cleaving rather than sawing follows the grain, so each post and rail keeps its natural strength and shrugs off the weather far longer than a machined stake ever would. Deer fencing has to be high enough that they won't chance the jump, and set firmly enough that the whole run stays taut across uneven ground, over dips and rises, without slackening off at the low points. It's honest, workmanlike fencing — nothing showy about it — but it's built to be there for decades.

Best advert we ever had: the neighbours saw it go up and rang the next day.

That's rather how it went. Once the fencing was in and doing its job, the people either side asked for the same. It's the way most of our work comes to us — someone sees a gate or a run of fence standing well, holding its line, and wants it for their own patch. We're based here in Kent and this is our home ground, so if it's near you, chances are we've already worked down the lane.

If you've deer to keep out and rough ground to do it on, we'll build you a run that stays put.