HEDGE WALK
Hawthorns have been planted at either side of an approximately 180m long ditch – dug between two fields on a farm at Holzhausen, near to Nieheim in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. 

The trees will eventually grow to form a single dense hedge.

Running through the middle of the hedge will be a passage just big enough for a person to walk through. Any branches and thorns growing into the passage will be removed which, over time, I hope, will become well worked, trodden, worn and smooth – in contrast to the abrasive, thorny, aggressive, impenetrable exterior.

The idea previously proposed for Mallorca in 2012, England in 2013 and Holland in 2016.

It was proposed for Holzhausen after a site visit in 2018 and was constructed in November 2023.

During the first year or two access will be somewhat limited due to the need for fencing to protect the young trees from deer – after which time Hedge Walk will be publicly accessible. See gutholzhausen.de/.

A 40m long test hedge was constructed in Scotland in March 2021.

EXCAVATION
Martin Wiechers

LABOUR
Fife Gibson
Heinz-Josef Böddeker
Ansgar Reitemeyer
Dafar Attallah
Kai Wulf
Felix Schmidt
Sabine Wiegand
Andreas Göllner
Philipp Eilbrecht
Sucia Mih
Markus Hanses
Iris Düker
Andy Goldworthy
Joel Goldsworthy
Johann-Friedrich Freiherr von der Borch
Peter Düker
Annette Finkeldei
Yi Li

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Andy Goldsworthy
Johann-Friedrich Freiherr von der Borch
Gunther Lötzke
Andreas Kopp
Yi Li
Peter Murray

TREE PLANTING
Mitarbeiter Firma Wulf