JM Tree Surgery & Fencing

Tree surgery and fencing in Tenterden.

We work Tenterden and the villages around it across TN30, from the High Street and St Michaels out to Smallhythe, High Halden, Woodchurch, Biddenden and Rolvenden. Crown work and pollarding on the High Street limes, mature oak and beech reductions in the back gardens, ash dieback removals, stump grinding, hedges, and post-and-rail and close-board fencing built on site with properly treated posts. NPTC qualified, fully insured, and tidy when we leave. Tenterden is the Kent edge of our patch and we work it routinely.

Get a quote Call 01424 000 000
Why hire local

Local matters

Tenterden is the next district eastward from East Sussex and the work is recognisable but not identical. The High Street is conservation area and famous for its avenue of mature limes (a pollarding and reduction context, not a fell context). Affluent market town, large Wealden gardens, mature trees that have been there for two hundred years. Wealden Edge Hangers ancient woodland sits on the doorstep, which pushes English oak, hornbeam and beech up against the back boundaries of properties around St Michaels and Rolvenden. The villages out to High Halden, Woodchurch and Biddenden have a strong horse and smallholding character, which means a lot of long post-and-rail.

The other thing to know about Tenterden is that it sits under Ashford Borough Council, not Rother. Different planning portal, different tree officer, different process for filing a Section 211 notice on a TPO'd tree or one inside the High Street conservation area. We work Ashford Borough routinely as the next district eastward and we know what they expect on the form. That's the kind of detail an out-of-area operator gets wrong on the first quote.

What we do

Work we do across Tenterden

Tree surgery in Tenterden

Crown reduction, thinning and lifting, pollarding, sectional dismantling, felling where it's the right answer, stump grinding, hedge cutting and deadwooding. The Tenterden book is shaped by three pictures. The High Street limes and avenue plantings sit in the conservation area and need pollarding to a managed cycle, not a fell. The larger back gardens off the High Street and around St Michaels carry mature English oak, hornbeam, beech and sweet chestnut, often with TPOs on the older trees. The wider catchment out to Smallhythe, High Halden and Woodchurch picks up the ash dieback removals and the rural hedge work. We work to BS3998, check for nesting birds before we start between March and August, and file the Section 211 notice or TPO application with Ashford Borough Council on your behalf.

See more on tree surgery →

Fencing in Tenterden

Close-board built on site, panel fencing where it suits, post and rail, picket, stock fencing, gates and repairs. Tenterden gardens tend to be larger than the coastal towns and the wind exposure is inland, not salt-laden, so a properly built close-board with properly treated posts and a capping rail goes the distance. The bigger volume of fencing work round here is post-and-rail and stock fencing on the equestrian properties out toward High Halden, Woodchurch and Biddenden: long runs round paddocks and along driveways, often a hundred metres or more. We use properly treated posts concreted in, with a kickboard at the base where the run holds horses, and we spec the hole depth to suit the soil because Wealden ground varies plot to plot.

See more on fencing →
TPOs, conservation areas and Section 211 notices

Trees in conservation areas

Tenterden has a sizeable conservation area covering the High Street and the older parts of town, taking in the famous avenue of limes and the gardens running off the main street. If a tree inside the conservation area is over 75mm in diameter at 1.5 metres off the ground, you generally need to file a Section 211 notice with Ashford Borough Council before any work starts. The council has six weeks to respond. We file the notice for you, with the method, the species and the reason, and we wait the clock out before we put a saw in.

A Tree Preservation Order is a separate process and it's common round Tenterden, partly because the older Wealden gardens carry orders on the veteran oaks and beeches. A TPO'd tree needs a formal application to Ashford Borough, regardless of the diameter or whether the tree sits inside the conservation area. We handle that paperwork too. Ashford Borough's planning portal is a separate system from Rother's and Wealden's, but the process is the same and we've worked it on this side of the patch enough times to know what they want. Most of the time the answer comes back as a consent with conditions, and we work to those conditions on the day. If you're not sure whether your tree is TPO'd or sitting in a conservation area, send us the address and we'll check Ashford Borough's planning map before we quote.

Where we work

Areas we work

Across Tenterden and the villages and districts around it. That covers:

Districts and nearby villages

  • St Michaels
  • Smallhythe
  • High Halden
  • Woodchurch
  • Biddenden
  • Rolvenden
  • Wittersham

Postcodes

  • TN30

Just outside? Call us anyway. We'll travel for the right job.

Reviews

What Tenterden customers say

Had a close-board fence put up, about twelve metres with a gate. Properly treated posts concreted in, feather-edge, capping rail, the lot. Neat job, on time, cleared the old panels away. Recommended.
Claire M., Bexhill
We needed the front oak crown-reduced, TPO'd, and most people we asked wanted to talk us into felling. JM did the paperwork with Rother, reduced it properly, and it looks like they haven't been there. Worth the money.
David H., Battle

Got a tree or a fence in Tenterden?

Send a photo on WhatsApp or fill in the quote form and we'll come and have a look. No charge for the visit, no hard sell.

Get a quote Call 01424 000 000