Hocus Crocus Gardens & Trees · Based near Knaresborough

Your Local Gardeners in Summerbridge and Dacre Banks

WhatsApp Karen about your Summerbridge garden Call Karen on 07816 779 064

Rated 4.5 from 19 Google reviews

Summerbridge is a regular stop on our round. Hocus Crocus Gardens & Trees is based near Knaresborough and works up the Nidd valley every week, so a gardener in Summerbridge or Dacre Banks is not a special trip for us. Karen has been gardening here since 1998 and looks after a diverse range of gardens across Harrogate and Nidderdale, and the same team covers Dacre, Darley, Glasshouses and the lanes in between.

A driveway lined with clipped box balls and tall hedging, with countryside at the far end

Free visit and a written price. No hard sell.

WhatsApp Karen a photo of your garden Call Karen on 07816 779 064
A shaped lawn with deep planted borders on either side

The ground under your garden, and what it will and will not grow

Brimham Rocks stands about a mile and a half north of the village, up Hartwith Bank and Brimham Rocks Road, and it is the best free soil survey you will ever get. Those rocks are Millstone Grit, and the site holds SSSI status for its geology and for the upland woodland and the acidic wet and dry heath it supports. Across Nidderdale the pattern is gritstone over limestone, which is why most Summerbridge gardens sit on acidic ground.

In practice that settles your planting list before you have chosen a single plant. Ericaceous plants are happy here: rhododendron, azalea, camellia, pieris, heather and blueberry. Lime-lovers sulk unless the bed is built and fed for them, and there is no sense paying for a border that is fighting the ground it stands in. We can take a soil analysis before a scheme is drawn so the planting plan matches what is actually under the lawn. Our garden design page covers how a full scheme is put together.

Karen maintained my garden for years and did a fantastic job. She was helpful in providing advice on specific issues, always responsive to requests for different/additional services, was great at communicating, and the only reason I stopped using her was due to moving out of area. I'd highly recommend.

Emma H.

Google review

A freshly striped lawn sweeping up to a stone farmhouse

Riverside plots, Old Spring Wood and the Nidderdale Way

The Nidderdale Way is a 55 mile circular footpath that follows the Nidd through Darley and into Summerbridge, and Old Spring Wood adjoins the village. Gardens backing onto the river or the wood come with their own list of jobs: self-seeded sycamore and ash arriving from the treeline, ivy running up boundary trees, a damp shaded bottom third where grass will not knit, and overhanging limbs that need reducing before they take a boundary or a shed roof with them. That is tree surgery and regular garden maintenance work, and it is a good share of what we do within a mile or two of the village.

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More about Summerbridge

Dacre Banks, Dacre, Darley and Glasshouses

Dacre is the largest village in the Dacre Banks parish, about five miles south of Pateley Bridge and close to the River Nidd. Darley sits midway between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge inside the National Landscape. Its name means deer glade, it was part of the Forest of Knaresborough, and boundary stones along the Nidd still mark the old line between the Forest and the lands of Fountains Abbey. Darley has won local and national Britain in Bloom awards, which tells you the standard a front garden is held to along that road.

Because we are already on this road most weeks, the small jobs are worth doing. An hour on a hedge, one overgrown shrub or a single load of green waste is a short drive for us rather than half a day for somebody coming out from Leeds or York. The Harrogate Bus Company service 24 between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge stops in the village, and we cover everything along that route, from Darley up to Glasshouses. Down the dale we also work in Hampsthwaite and Birstwith, on the same acidic gritstone soils, and the same road carries on to Harrogate, where the ground finally changes. Harrogate, Knaresborough, Nidderdale and the surrounding villages are where most of our work is. The full patch is set out on our areas we cover page.

A roped tree surgeon working high in a bare winter canopy
Two gardeners kneeling on a lawn, edging and weeding a border beside an ivy covered wall

Before and after

Jobs we have finished

Karen's own photographs from recent jobs.

  • A worn out lawn stripped, the ground prepared and new turf laid, before and after
  • Overgrown shrubs swamping a bungalow front garden before a maintenance visit
  • The same bungalow front garden after clipping, with domes reshaped and paths cleared
  • A garden lost under brambles, cleared back to tidy ground with the greenhouse visible again, before and after
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Other towns we cover

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Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Where are you based, and how often are you in Summerbridge?
Hocus Crocus Gardens & Trees is based near Knaresborough. We work the Nidd valley every week, so Summerbridge is a regular round rather than a trip out. Brimham Rocks is about a mile and a half north of the village, up Hartwith Bank. Karen owns and manages the business, which has been going since 1998.

What soil will I be planting into in Summerbridge and Dacre Banks?
Acidic ground, in most cases. The rock under this part of the dale is Millstone Grit, the same gritstone that forms Brimham Rocks a mile and a half north of the village, and across Nidderdale the pattern is gritstone over limestone. Ericaceous plants such as rhododendron, azalea, camellia and heather do well. Lime-lovers need the bed built and fed for them, and we can take a soil analysis before we plan a border.

Do you cover Darley, Dacre and Glasshouses as well?
Yes, and Low Laithe, Wilsill, Hartwith, Burnt Yates and Birstwith. Darley sits midway between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge inside the National Landscape and has won local and national Britain in Bloom awards, so front gardens along there are held to a standard. Dacre is the largest village in the Dacre Banks parish. Further up the dale we also work in Pateley Bridge.

Our garden backs onto the river and Old Spring Wood. What does that mean for the trees?
Usually self-seeded sycamore and ash coming in off the treeline, ivy climbing the boundary trees, and limbs growing out over a boundary or a shed. We reduce, thin, deadwood and clear those with an NPTC approved team working to BS 3998. Where a tree carries a Tree Preservation Order or stands in a conservation area, consent or notice is needed first, and we give you guidance on what the council needs.

Our work

Some of our recent jobs

A few gardens and trees we've looked after lately.

The Hocus Crocus tree team beside the stump and timber after a tree removal
An overgrown boundary hedge cut back, with the silver birch growing through it left as a feature, before and after
A raised stone bed planted up at a pub terrace

In Summerbridge most weeks, rated 4.5 on Google from 19 reviews

  • 4.5Google rating from 19 reviews
  • Since 1998Established in Yorkshire
  • BS 3998Tree work standard
  • NPTCApproved, insured and DBS checked

What we do

What we do in Summerbridge and Dacre Banks.

Being on this road most weeks means the regular work, the one-off jobs and the big projects all get the same team and the same standard.

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Our work

Recent Hocus Crocus jobs

Karen's own photographs from recent jobs.

A garden with a hazel roofed pergola and a planted seating area
A landscaped garden with an outdoor kitchen built into the scheme
A freshly dug border planted with heuchera, grasses and climbers, before and after
A tired bed cleared, replanted and finished with slate mulch, before and after
Mown lawns and clipped borders in the grounds of a large stone country house
Planters kept planted and maintained on a bar and restaurant terrace
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What customers say

Rated 4.5 on Google from 19 reviews.

Reviews left by Karen's customers, quoted word for word from Google.

  • “Yet again a fantastic service! Karen is an inspiration and my garden is looking fantastic. The tree surgeons are amazingly skilled. Cant recommend Hocus Crocus Gardens & Trees enough”
    Claire Pickering · Harrogate, North Yorkshire
    Gardening and tree surgery
  • “Karen is a gem. After approaching several unsatisfactory firms, we discovered her and found her pleasant and easy to get on with, hard working, imaginative, reliable and very thorough in both the planning and the execution of the scheme. In two days she and her team transformed our incredibly boring garden into a very attractive, low maintenance one. Highly recommended.”
    Mervyn & Joyce · Harrogate
    Low maintenance makeover
  • “Karen and her team are absolutely amazing! I never imagined my garden could look so fantastic! The price was very competitive, the team were reliable and work was completed on schedule. Highly recommend!”
    Natalie A.
    Google review
  • “Great service from Karen and her team. Can be relied on to do a great job.”
    Amanda M.
    Google review

Free, no obligation

Tell us about your Summerbridge garden.

We are up this road most weeks, so booking a look at the garden is straightforward. Send a few photos or just describe what you are after and Karen will come back to you with an honest price.

  • Free site visit and an honest quote
  • Owner-led by Karen, established 1998
  • Tree work to BS 3998, NPTC approved
  • Fully insured, DBS checked and IOSH certified
Call 07816 779 064