Annual trim for Levens Hall gardens

If you are a reluctant gardener spare a thought for the team at the Topiary Garden at at Levens Hall in south Cumbria.

It is the oldest and largest in the world, but all the hedges and trees have to be trimmed - Tim Backshall has been to see this year's work getting underway:

Head gardener Chris Crowder explains a little more about the different topiary on show at Levens Hall:

The annual trim of one of the oldest and largest topiary gardens in the world is underway at Levens Hall in south Cumbria.

Head gardener Chris Crowder and his team spend six months tackling the 100 topiary using hydraulic lifts and scaffolding.

The task is repeated every year in September and the team aim to finish by springtime.

Some of the topiary are over 300-years-old and the gardens date back to the 1690's, when it was very fashionable to have a topiary garden.

The world's oldest and largest topiary garden is about to be give its annual end-of-summer tidy up.

It takes six months to trim the gardens at Levens Hall in the Lake District and is a full time job for four gardeners.