Hand Powered: Traditional Land Based Skills

Scything

Contract Mowing and Courses

We can help with meadow cutting, mowing orchards, smaller spaces and gardens as well as the control of more invasive species such as bracken, rush and brambles where chemical or mechanical control is not desired. We are also available to carry out small scale successional hay making for those looking to maximise their botanical diversity while still ensuring a hay crop.


Whether you are a beginner or someone looking to improve your scything technique, I offer relaxed courses from a 1-day introduction, a 2-day consolidation course to a 5-day ‘beginners to advanced’ hay making course for those looking for instruction in hay production. I also offer wild flower meadow creation and maintenance, as well as courses in these skills. Please see below for details.

I will happily carry out contract mowing for those who have land and manage it in an environmentally friendly manner. I will also happily run private courses on your own land for individuals or groups.

Pricing:

Contract mowing- £190.00 per day

Scything Tuition (individuals or groups):

  • £140.00 per day (1-2 people)
  • £65.00 per day per person (3-8 people)

Blade Peening:

  • £25.00 peen and sharpen
  • £50.00 Peening workshop

Discounts available for multiple day bookings and for charities and conservation bodies. See Events page for course dates

Scything has seen something of a revival in recent years as people search for alternatives that allow for positively managed land without causing negative environmental impacts during the process. To this end the use of the scythe is a fantastic tool for carrying out a wide range of land management tasks that require a broad range of vegetation to be cut. The multiple benefits to scything over the many modern alternatives quickly become apparent to those who use them, and invariably fall in love with the tool, for its simplicity in use and maintenance and the connection that it affords to the task at hand.


All that said, to scythe effectively and make this tool sing, requires practise and patience; both useful lessons in themselves.


Although here in the UK we see scythes as archaic relics of a rural idyll, they are viewed very differently across much of mainland Europe where they remain one of the most effective tools for managing steep and inaccessible grasslands or where their reliability far outweighs any perceived gains resulting from mechanisation.


These tools are beautifully ergonomic in their use and provide reliable and easy human powered solutions to many tasks.For those looking to improve the biodiversity of their lawns or meadows to create rich richer wild flower meadows, cutting with a scythe allows for a sensitive approach that can respond to the needs of nature and people on the ground, in real time.


CONTACT ME

Tel: 07834240559

Copyright 2021 Danny Hodgson