A view from inside a tractor cabin looking out onto a farm field with a tractor working on the grass. There are trees and a house in the background under a clear blue sky.

Practical establishment and care for working landscapes

Lefthand provides ecologically informed land-management services for farms, estates, habitat projects and rural organisations across the South West. Work can be delivered as a standalone contract or as part of a longer programme covering preparation, establishment and aftercare.

Our Services

A rural landscape with rolling green hills, a partly cloudy sky, and a row of leafless trees in the distance. A fence made of poles and bundled branches runs along the foreground.

Hedgerows

Hedgerows are working infrastructure as well as valuable habitat. Well-managed hedges provide shelter, boundary structure, wildlife corridors, browse and future hedgerow trees.

Services include conservation hedgelaying, restoration of neglected or gappy hedges, new hedge planting, coppicing, selective clearance, hedgerow-tree establishment, guards, protection and establishment maintenance.

We favour practical, conservation-led work that retains useful structure and creates a hedge that can continue to develop under an appropriate cutting and management cycle.

Young trees planted along a dirt path in a seaside campsite area, with mobile homes and a gravel road in the background, and cloudy overcast weather.

Habitat maintenance and aftercare

Planting is only the beginning of establishment. Weed competition, browsing, failed guards, drought and inappropriate cutting can quickly undermine a well-designed project.

Lefthand provides scheduled inspections, vegetation management, replacement planting, guard and stake maintenance, formative pruning, selective clearance and ongoing habitat management. Multi-year maintenance can be included when a project needs reliable continuity.

Agroforestry establishment

Agroforestry needs to work as part of a farm, not simply occupy space within it. Establishment must account for machinery, livestock, access, future management and the productive role of the trees and understorey.

Lefthand supports practical implementation through site discussions, row layout and setting out, ground preparation, planting, protection, understorey establishment and early maintenance. We can work directly with the farmer or alongside an agronomist, forester or agroforestry designer.

Traditional Rural Services

Traditional methods can provide practical, low-impact solutions for gardens, smallholdings and sensitive rural sites. Our services include scythe mowing, conservation hedgelaying, small-scale grain harvesting and threshing, coppice work and the productive reuse of cut material.

Tree and habitat planting

We establish trees and woody habitats around the needs of the site, the surrounding land use and the intended long-term outcome. Projects can include native trees, mixed scrub, traditional or productive orchards, wood pasture, in-field trees, shelter planting and habitat plugs.

Services can cover setting out, site preparation, planting, stakes, guards, mulch, livestock or wildlife protection, completion records and replacement planting.

For BNG and planning-led projects, Lefthand can deliver work to an approved habitat, ecological or landscape specification and provide clear records of what was installed.

Productive Food Gardens

We design and establish productive food gardens for homes, estates, shared spaces and community land. From a focused vegetable or grain plot to a more complete system combining fruit, nuts, perennial crops, poultry and water, each garden is shaped around the food people want to produce and the time, space and involvement they can offer.

Our approach begins with the resources already present. Cut vegetation, prunings, compost, animal manure and stored water can be moved through the garden to build fertility and support production, reducing the need for continual outside inputs. The result is a practical, resilient garden that becomes more productive over time while creating space for wildlife and reconnecting people with how their food is grown.

How we work

We start with how the site is used, what the landowner needs and what the existing landscape can support. Projects are designed around access, grazing, machinery and future maintenance, then delivered through clear scopes, realistic methods and work that can be documented and inspected. Establishment and aftercare are considered from the outset.

Coverage and professional assurance

Based in Dorset and working across the South West. Lefthand carries £5 million public liability insurance and relevant practical and machinery qualifications. Risk assessments, biosecurity and project records are available where required.

Get Started
Cows grazing on a lush green field during sunset with purple flowers in the foreground and trees in the background.

Let’s work together

Not sure where your project fits?

Send a short description, photographs or a plan of the site. We can identify whether Lefthand is the right fit and arrange a site visit where useful.