About
Shepherdswell Hedges & Tree Services is run by Richard Lim. Honest, no upselling, and specified for North Downs chalk rather than a generic garden hedge.
I cut hedges. I reduce overgrown ones. And I plant new ones, with species chosen for North Downs chalk soil, not whatever the nursery has in stock.
That is it. I do not do tree surgery, lawn care, fencing or the rest of the garden-services bundle. Hedges are a craft worth being good at, and I keep my focus narrow so I am.
Shepherdswell's older village core, around Church Hill and Mill Lane, sits inside a designated conservation area with 31 listed buildings, three of them Grade I, and the section-211 rules apply to any tree over 75mm at chest height. This is North Downs chalk downland, on the Miner's Way Trail through the old East Kent coalfield and on the North Downs Way where it follows the Via Francigena pilgrim route, so the soil is thin, alkaline and free-draining rather than salt-exposed. Native hawthorn, field maple and hornbeam are the working mix on the farmland boundaries out towards Coldred, Eythorne and Lydden; yew holds a clean line on a tighter village garden hedge.
A contractor without that patch-specific knowledge will not know any of it without being told. I work this ground every week. The conservation-area paperwork is included. The species recommendations match what actually lives here, on chalk, not on a coastal salt-exposure brief that does not apply.
Three things you can hold me to on every job:
Email hello@shepherdswellhedges.co.uk. Call or WhatsApp 07763 100 477. Based in Shepherdswell CT15; covering Shepherdswell, Coldred, Eythorne, Lydden and the surrounding villages.