HEDGE-LAYER John Savings has braved wind, rain and frost to complete his latest labour of love, lining a stretch of the A4130 with a hedge fit for a king.

Mr Savings, from Appleton, is part-way through a project to lay a hedge almost a mile long at Hill Farm in Steventon.

By next month he and fellow hedge-layers who have been helping him will have spent about 10 weeks on the work, using about 3,000 hand-pointed stakes and 2,900 wood binders to construct the natural barrier.

Mr Savings, who is approaching his 70th birthday but has no plans to retire, said: “It’s nearly a mile long and is one of my biggest jobs to date, but I have loved doing it.

“The hedge has been funded by a grant from Natural England and, as well as securing Hill Farm, will provide a fabulous new habitat for all sorts of wildlife in the years to come. It has been tough at times, and I have had a little help recently from hedge-layer Hefin Davies. So many people have pulled up to admire it and ask about it. I think it has become a bit of a local talking point.”

Mr Savings’ work often attracts admirers. Prince Charles saw him give a hedge-laying display and promptly asked for lessons.

Mr Savings said: “I was exhibiting at the Game Fair at Shuttleworth Agricultural College in Bedfordshire, in 2001 when Prince Charles came to look around.

“When he saw my stall he shook my hand and then started to ask me lots of questions about the hedge and how I had made it.”

Mr Savings was invited to the Prince’s estate at Highgrove, near Tetbury, in Gloucestershire, to instruct the future king in hedge- laying, and still visits the estate each year.

He said: “The Prince has laid thousands of metres of hedge since then, in all weathers. He enjoys every minute and I have been very proud to teach him.”

Mr Savings also runs regular courses for beginners. He said: “Hedge-laying involves cutting an existing hedge back, finding the main stems, then bending them over and staking them securely with new shoots and stems, creating a hard barrier, that can be as thin, yet as tough, as a woven fence.”

Mr Savings’ new hedge in Steventon also has a Royal connection. Branches that have been cut off during the hedge-laying process will be saved for use in a beacon to be lit nearby as part of the celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June.