The oldest hedge in Sussex

The undulating line of box hedging that separates Copyhold Hollow from the road was well above head height when Frances Druce arrived in 1993. Said to be more than 1,000 years old and the oldest in Sussex, it indicates that there has been habitation on this spot for a very long time. It is often described as cloud pruned, but Miss Druce explains that its wavy profile is dictated by the shape of each individual shrub. She prunes a section of the hedge, shrub by shrub, once a year, usually in June, cutting each one down to the height she wants. ‘It is staggering how it rejuvenates,’ she says. Her advice on box blight is not to panic. She cuts back to below the infected bits, allowing more air to circulate, and would never take a plant out unless it is completely dead.