Hairdressers in the garden at Knightshayes

It’s almost that time of year, when National Trust staff at Knightshayes Court get to hone their hair dressing skills as the topiary in the Formal Garden receives its annual hair cut

The fox and hound topiary was planted Sir John and Lady Joyce Heathcoat-Amory, the last members of the family to live at Knightshayes, who were passionate and well respected gardeners and who dedicated much of their later lives to the creation of the renowned gardens.

The topiary consists of seven hounds and a fox, along with four large heads modelled on Talbot hounds. The Talbot hound, an extinct breed of hunting dog, was the crest of the Amory family, and there are a further two large heads in the Kitchen Garden which have already had a slight prune.

The topiary is cut once a year, along with the rest of the hedges in the garden, both to tidy them up and to encourage further new growth. The activity always draws a huge amount of interest. Emma Robertson, Formal and Woodland Garden Supervisor says:

“We have people who come back year on year to see the topiary being cut; and they will always contact us if they think we’ve forgotten, as sometimes we’re delayed by the weather. It takes a fair bit of concentration, but is quite easy once you get into the swing of it. We use a strimmer to trim the general hedges; but for the fiddly bits, we obviously switch to pruning shears and secateurs or else we could end up with some very strange looking animals.”

The pruning will take place in the Formal Gardens during the next couple of weeks, depending on the weather; and the gardeners are always happy to talk to visitors and answer any of their questions.