NEXT ISSUE SERVICE DEALER BUSINESS QUARTERLY Magazine Summer 2013 published July 2013
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AND FINALLY . . . Trimming to the h-edge of extremes!
The tallest yew hedge in the country, located at the Bathurst Estate has undergone its annual trim.
The monster 300-year-old hedge is an impressive 40ft tall. It takes two men two full days on top of a cherry picker to cut back the giant.
They lop off the top six inches of new growth, removing nearly a tonne of clippings which are used to produce a life-saving cancer drug.
They are sold to pharmaceutical companies who use yew extract as a key ingredient of Docetaxel, a chemotherapy drug used for breast, ovarian and lung cancer.
The semi-circular hedge is 33ft wide and stretches for 150 yards along the side of the mansion on the aristocratic estate outside Cirencester.
It is owned by Lord Bathurst who spends £6,000 each year keeping his pride and joy under control.
The 52 year-old told Yahoo: 'It runs right along the front of the house and you can actually see it from the town as it's taller than the wall.
'It's difficult to know exactly how old it is, but we think it was planted in about 1710.'
