If you’ve ever thought of edging a flower bed with proper professional stuff, you may have been astonished to find that the makers of garden edging assume you live in a flat garden. With no lumps or bumps. And nice even curves. Weird.

Well, Veddw’s not like that and we still have edging issues. But this is about a sorted fencing issue in this lumpy landscape which may be useful to some other lumpy people. My apologies if you are such a keen Veddw follower that this is old hat and boring.

 

This was the fence at its best and when it featured on the front of Charles’s book.

 

And on the book:

Though I notice that even there it has a wonky strut.

The problem that this fence addresses is:

a. It sits on a boundary and so has to be in precisely that spot.

b. The ground it sits on is full of boulders and odd rocks. So it’s not flat. It’s impossible to put in supporting posts because you can’t bash anything into the ground.

c. It is hiding an ugly chain link boundary fence.

d. The ground slopes, so you can’t get a nice level top.

e. The field behind is a couple of feet lower and belongs to someone else.

Hence the roofing laths or roofing battens. They are mounted on long planks and it is the planks which are supported at either end. The battens are all different lengths so that the lack of flat is no longer obvious. (I’m clever, don’t you think??) And they are pressure treated against rot. Which means they last a whole week! (If you’re lucky. Who’d use wood?)

Sounds simple. It was a nightmare to make and a nightmare to repair. We have done both, working together. The battens when mounted on a plank, with great difficulty, are very heavy. And then have to be put in place, and kept in place while secured. It was not fun.

 

By now (2026) the fence was looking like the above. Things were growing up it and they were helping to disguise the fact that it was rotting. Not all of it but a sad lot of it. We thought of letting the ivy totally cover it. We have such an ivy fence elsewhere. But it would be a loss. I love this fence.

Then, what do you know, that really useful bloke of mine started work on it. This was in a heatwave!!!!! (He was quite a find, that man, don’t you think? Well spotted, me)

 
 

So now it is mended and back to its former glory. Phew. And maybe this thing is a good idea for someone out there, needing a fence. I do hope so. Here it is:

Do ignore the grotty damaged foliage at the bottom. Can’t make an omelette…..

and:

Black Fence at Veddw copyright Anne Wareham

 
 
I love it in autumn. (Thanks for pic, Charles)
 
And I love it in winter.

Is it the view beyond that makes it special?