But for the groundskeepers at Powis Castle in Powys, Wales, in a bygone era the task was a much more hard feat.

When they were originally planted in the 18th century, the yews were clipped into small, formal cones or pyramids.

Dan Bull spends ten weeks a year on a cherrypicker trying to tame this 55ft hedge at Powis Castle in Welshpool.

Thankfully days of cutting hedges with scythes are over and Dan has a comparatively easier job using power tools. In the Powis garden there are nearly 8,500 square metres of formal hedging.

Once a year gardeners at the castle take to the air and spend ten weeks trimming the yew tumps and terrace hedging, ensuring they continue to wow the thousands of visitors the castle receives each year.

Powis’s head gardener David Swanton said: ‘It might sound like a mammoth task but the garden team are actually quite lucky.

For most, trimming a garden hedge takes a couple of hours using a pair of shears.

From the castle’s Wilderness ridge, the huge yews appear to melt over the edges of the terraces, like wax, making them so iconic of the National Trust site.