Fencing in Finchampstead

Finchampstead work looks different to the rest of our patch. Plots are bigger, boundaries run further, and a good proportion of what we install here is agricultural or semi-rural rather than a standard garden panel.

We are based at Valley Crescent in Wokingham, about 4.7 miles from Finchampstead, and we have been fencing across this part of Berkshire since 1992. Finchampstead falls under Wokingham Borough Council for planning purposes.

Long runs change the job

On a suburban boundary you are dealing with fifteen or twenty metres. In Finchampstead it is regularly several hundred. That changes almost everything about how a job is priced and planned: material delivery, whether we can get a vehicle down to the line, and how much the ground level moves across the run.

It also changes what fails. On a long run you rarely lose the whole thing at once. You lose posts in the wettest section, usually where the ground holds water, and the rest stands for years. That is exactly the situation where concrete spurs save a great deal of money.

Post and rail, and what it is actually for

We install more post and rail here than anywhere else we work. Two or three horizontal rails on square posts, marking a boundary without blocking a view, which is what you want around a paddock, a smallholding or a long frontage.

Post and rail is not a security fence and it is not a privacy fence. If you need to keep something in or out, it wants stock netting fixed to it. If you need privacy, it wants to be a different fence entirely, and our fencing page covers the closed options.

Trees, roots and boundaries

Finchampstead has a lot of mature trees, and mature trees are the single most common complication on a boundary here. Roots make post holes difficult and can push a line out of true over the years. Overhanging branches accelerate rot by keeping a fence permanently damp.

We work around root systems rather than through them wherever we can, because cutting a major root to make a post hole easier is a good way to damage a tree that has been there longer than the fence and will be there afterwards.

Planning in Finchampstead

Finchampstead falls under Wokingham Borough Council, so the usual permitted development limits apply: up to two metres at the rear, one metre where a boundary meets a highway used by vehicles. Replacing like for like does not need permission regardless of height.

Worth knowing locally: parts of Finchampstead sit within conservation and protected landscape designations, which can tighten what is acceptable. Our fence height guide covers the general rules, but on a sensitive boundary it is worth a call to the council first.

What we do in Finchampstead

The full range: fence supply and installation, made-to-measure gates and repairs including concrete spurs. Free site visit, itemised written quote, and the old fence taken away when we are finished.

We also cover Twyford, Bracknell, Winnersh, Earley, Reading and the rest of the area listed on our areas covered page.