A brave gardener with a head for heights at Powis Castle, near Welshpool has scaled 14 metres to trim the gigantic 300-year-old yew hedge to ensure the topiary is in tip top condition ready for another year of impressing thousands of visitors at the world-famous garden.

Hoisted high in a cherry-picker, patience and precision is required by National Trust gardener Dan Bull who takes around 10 weeks every autumn to clip the 'tumps', maintaining their unusual wave shape to look spectacular all year round.

Standing proud and spilling over the Italianate terrace, the yews were planted in the 18th Century and have survived changes in style, fashion, and design over hundreds of years and have grown to such a size that a tunnel has been formed that visitors can walk through.

County Times: National Trust gardener Dan Bull works from a cherry-picker to trim a section of 14m-high yew hedge at Powis Castle near Welshpool. The famous 'tumps' are more than 300 years old and it takes one gardener 10 weeks each autumn to clip them,National Trust gardener Dan Bull works from a cherry-picker to trim a section of 14m-high yew hedge at Powis Castle near Welshpool. The famous 'tumps' are more than 300 years old and it takes one gardener 10 weeks each autumn to clip them,

County Times: The work as seen from below.The work as seen from below.

Cutting the hedge is a one-man job these days but before cherry-pickers and chainsaws, it used to take 10 men four months to clip all the box and yew hedges at Powis Castle. They used hand shears and balanced on long ladders, tied together where necessary, to reach the top of the taller yews.

The yews were clipped into small, formal cones or pyramids however, by the end of the century English landscape gardening, made popular by figures such as 'Capability' Brown, saw the yew trees growing naturally to become more ‘tree-like’.

County Times: Dan Bull works from a cherry-picker to trim a section of 14m-high yew hedge at Powis CastleDan Bull works from a cherry-picker to trim a section of 14m-high yew hedge at Powis Castle

County Times: The extraordinary hedges are 14 metres highThe extraordinary hedges are 14 metres high

County Times: National Trust gardener Dan Bull works from a cherry-pickerNational Trust gardener Dan Bull works from a cherry-picker

This lasted until formal gardening arrived in the Victorian Era and the yews were once more clipped back into shape after years of neglect giving them the unusual structure that is still so striking to visitors today.

Lady Violet, wife of the 4th Earl of Powis, was a garden enthusiast who was determined to make it "one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, in England and Wales".

County Times: The work certainly requires a head for heights.The work certainly requires a head for heights.

County Times: Atop the 300-year=old hedges.Atop the 300-year=old hedges.