Hazel, willow, beef and storytelling from Bedfordshire

Hazel

wassledine coppicing hazel in bottoms corner wood
Coppicing hazel in Bottoms’ Corner Wood

We currently coppice hazel in two Bedfordshire woodlands: our own Bottoms’ Corner in Gravenhurst and Centenary Wood near Pulloxhill, a wood owned by Central Beds Council. For the past few years we have also bought in hazel cut from two ancient woodland nature reserves owned and managed by the Wildlife Trust (Beds, Cambs and Northants). So like everything else we produce, it really comes from this area. The hazel’s harvesting is wrapped up in creating and managing habitats for native woodland wildlife.

We cut hazel between October and February for sale in the winter and spring months. We can accept orders throughout the year but our supply is seasonal. If you’d like to find out more or discuss an order please contact us

In recent years we have supplied hazel for rabbit purse net pegs and long nets, Christmas wreaths, arty picture frames, basket making, arches, wattle and daub construction, yurt poles, wands, claves, den and shelter building (particularly for Forest Schools), school maths projects and more, so if you need poles of different sizes or for other uses, please let us know.

Take a look at the details below, for some of the most popular hazel materials that we sell each year. We have supplied hazel for many other uses and are happy to supply to your specification if we can.

We coppice throughout each winter. We’ve added some links to some short videos of coppicing and processing hazel type things at the bottom of this page. If you’d like to jump there, click here

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Hazel Pea Sticks – the bees’ knees for peas

Hazel tops, approx. 3’6″-5’6′ (107-152cm) branched sticks, 1/4″-3/4″ (8-15mm) diameter at the base. One angled cut to base to give a point).

In bundles of 15 @ £7.20 per bundle.

In bundles of 50 @ £24/bundle (1-3 bundles) or £23/bundle (4+ bundles)

Putting hazel pea sticks into bindles of 50
Putting pea sticks into bundles of 50

Some use our pea sticks, just as the name suggests – for supporting their peas – sweet and edible. And they do a mighty good job. Simply push the pointy end into the soil and away they go (ok, there’s a bit of green-fingering to do as well).

However, many people are using them to support herbaceous plants. That’s what some of our larger clients are doing – RHS Wisley, Wormsley and Woburn Abbey Gardens for example. The sticks are pushed into the ground, pointy end down again, but being fresh and flexible, they can be formed into low structures early in the season, through which those plants will grow. The likes of Delphiniums, Geraniums and peonies sometimes need a little support in those summer breezes.

Pea stick action shots. Left - early April (thanks to Charlotte at the Wormsley Estate) and right - Geraniums leaning on a pea stick frame in late June (thanks to Anne at Woburn Abbey)
Pea stick action shots. Left – early April (thanks to Charlotte at the Wormsley Estate) and right – Geraniums leaning on a pea stick frame in late June (thanks to Anne at Woburn Abbey)

Hazel Bean Poles

The naturally knobbly solution to your plant support issues

So much better than bamboo, hazel is naturally knobbly and provides great support for any climbing plant particularly your rampant runners. We cut our bean poles to about 7 foot 6 inches  (230cm), but can supply them longer or shorter if you like. Once you’ve tried hazel, we’re sure you won’t want to go back to bamboo.

Bundled bean poles (left) and in action (right)

Hazel rods (rarely truly straight, 7’6″ (230cm) x 0.8-1.2″ (20-30mm). One end pointed)

Price £1.90 each


Hazel Flower Sticks

We sell lots of straight hazel sticks to gardeners. These are often used simply as stakes to support all sorts for plants – tomatoes, sun flowers, Dahlias; well you name it. But they can be used for many other things in the garden, from making trellis to training roses. We sharpen each stake by hand with an axe and bundle them into tens at 3, 4 5 and 6 feet long.

3,4 5 and 6 foot pointed, hazel flower sticks from Wassledine available now
3,4, 5 and 6 foot pointed, hazel flower sticks available now

Prices: (straightish hazel poles, base diameterc.10-20mm, pointed)

3 feet – 70p each, 4 feet – 90p each, 5 feet – £1.20 each, 6 feet – £1.50 each


Hedge Laying Materials

Hazel hedge stakes (roughly straight poles, rarely first grade), 5′ 6″ (168cm) long by 3/4″ (2cm) – 2″ (5cm diameter).

£1.20 each, ready for bashing – pointed at one end and cut flat at the other

£1 each as they come (unpointed), usually with ends cut square.

Hazel hedge binders, (9’+ long and 0.5-1″ diameter at butt end (275 x 1.5-2.5cm) – £1.20 each

Willow binders are also often available at £1.20 each

Prices as collected from Gravenhurst, Beds. We can often deliver by arrangement.

Ed with hedge and Wassledine stakes and binders
Ed Burnett with Wassledine hedge stakes and binders

Coppicing Hazel – some videos

We took some video of Guy cutting hazel in January 2022 to go to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, UK. This was for a new project – Make Good, Rethinking Material Futures, for which we supplied fresh, peeled, split hazel as well as ash from our woods (milled by Darren Woodward of Bedfordshire Woods Chimney Sweep) and seasoned hazel sourced from Hales Wood, by Andy Basham of Coppice Designs in Essex.

Seemed a shame not to bung these on our web site too. There are subtitles so if you are interested, you can turn them on using settings.

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