This should have started at the beginning - Ashridge Nurseries is our business. We grow and sell about 2 million plants a year.

We have a huge range of hedging plants, which are just young trees and shrubs. I suppose you could say we major in hedging. However, we also grow and sell ornamental and fruit trees, roses, assorted bulbs & tubers, and have a growing range of soft fruit. Oh, nearly forgot - and just about every hedging-related planting accessory you can think of.

Our speciality is supplying bare-rooted plants - plants with no soil around their roots when you (the customer) get them. There are many plusses (pluses?) to bareroot stock. It is grown in open ground (i.e. a field), not in a pot, which means the plants tend to be larger, healthier and never get pot-bound. They are much lighter (no soil); you can carry 500 hedging plants under one arm across a muddy field (try carrying 500 of the smallest potted plants in one go...), they are easier to handle and they can be planted much faster.

Some plants, such as holly, escallonia and griselinia, can't be sold bare-rooted as they die in minutes, so we do a little bit of pot-grown stuff as well. At this time of year, it tends to be softer and tastier than the field-grown plants - hence the bloody rabbits. to be continued....