Clearing gardens in an old market town
Pontefract grew quickly in the late Victorian years. Wakefield Council's appraisal of the Friarwood and Button Park conservation area notes that the town's population tripled between 1871 and 1931, and much of the housing from that period is still standing: brick terraces along Northgate and Back Northgate, terraced rows on Spink Lane, Castle View, The Booths and Beech Hill in the castle conservation area, and larger semis and villas south of the centre. Each of these leaves a different kind of mess when it has been left to grow.
A terraced yard is usually small but awkward. Brambles and self-sown saplings creep along the back wall, bins and old pots vanish under ivy, and everything that gets cut has to leave through a narrow gate or, sometimes, through the house. A long garden behind a Victorian semi is the opposite problem: room to work, but years of growth, a hedge that has doubled in width, and a far end nobody has walked into since the mower gave up.
What a clearance visit involves
We begin by walking the garden with you and agreeing what stays. That matters more than people expect. Under the brambles there is often a path, an edging, a rockery or a shrub worth saving, and they are far easier to protect when they are marked before the cutting starts. Then comes the graft: overgrown hedges, shrubs and climbers cut back to a manageable shape, long grass strimmed, nettles and weeds pulled from the beds, ivy and saplings taken out, and hard surfaces raked and swept. The garden waste is loaded up and taken away, so the job ends with a clear garden rather than a heap in the corner.
One customer, Trevour Bowden, summed up the kind of job we mean: "cleared our very overgrown gardens very happy with the service very hardworking polite team nothing was to much for them".
Old walls and protected trees
Four parts of the town are conservation areas on Wakefield Council's list: Pontefract Castle, Pontefract Market Place, The Mount, and Friarwood and Button Park. The council's appraisals for them put a lot of weight on what surrounds a garden, from the historic sandstone walling on the south side of Southgate to the brick and stone boundaries between Horsefair and Northgate, which may follow medieval burgage plots, and the high brick garden walls and hedging along Mayors Walk. When ivy and saplings have taken hold of a wall like that, they need to come off with care rather than being torn away, because roots can pull loose mortar and stone out with them.
Trees are a separate matter. Wakefield Council requires prior consent before anyone prunes or fells a tree in a conservation area, or one covered by a tree preservation order, and it takes around six weeks to decide a conservation area notification. A clearance works around trees like these. If you're not sure whether a tree in your garden is protected, the council's Where I Live map or its development control team can tell you, and it is far better to check before the visit than after.
Timing a clearance in Pontefract
Late autumn and winter are good months for a big cut back. The leaves are down, so you can see what you are dealing with, and the beds are easier to get into. Early spring works too, before the new growth starts. From spring into summer, thick hedges and climbers can hold nesting birds, so we check before cutting and leave an active nest alone, even if that means returning for one section later. Whatever the season, a cleared garden is far easier to keep on top of with a few follow-up visits, which is where garden maintenance in Pontefract comes in.
Moving in, moving out or starting again
Plenty of clearances begin with a change: a house bought with a garden that has been left for years, a rented property between tenants, a parent's garden that has become too much. Around Button Park and Mill Hill Road the council's appraisal records post-war infill in some of the larger gardens, so it is not unusual to find old paths and borders cut across by newer boundaries. We clear back to whatever line you need. And if, once you can see the ground again, you want to change the layout, landscaping in Pontefract covers patios, turfing, gravel and complete makeovers.
Getting a quote
Ring 07347 572509, Monday to Friday between 9am and 6pm, and tell us roughly how big the garden is, what it is overgrown with and how the waste would get out. Photos help. We will arrange to come and look, then give you a clear quote. Affordable Gardens & Landscapes is a family run, fully insured business based in Knottingley, Pontefract's neighbour, and covers homes and commercial premises across the town. There is more about the service itself on our garden clearance and tidy ups page, and everything we offer locally is on our Pontefract page.
