Estate Management
Parkland trees, woodland edges, miles of hedgerow, paddocks, drives, and formal grounds. Estates need a contractor that can work at landscape scale and still get the detail right by the front door. We manage both, on one contract.
One Contract, Whole Estate
What We Do
Estate management, in the grounds sense, is the planned care of large landholdings: country estates, parkland, institutional campuses, farms with amenity land, and heritage properties, where the work spans veteran trees, woodland, hedgerows, grassland, and formal grounds. Silver Tree Services manages estates across Gloucestershire and surrounding counties for private owners, land agents, and organisations, including work for Savills-managed property and heritage clients such as the Church of England, bringing arboriculture, grounds, and landscaping under one accountable contract.
What we manage
- Parkland and veteran trees. Inspection cycles, deadwooding, crown management, and specialist retrenchment pruning that keeps old trees standing safely for decades longer, with bracing where a tree justifies it. The estate's tree register and survey cycle sit underneath all of it.
- Woodland management. Thinning, coppicing, ride and edge maintenance, felling and extraction where required, with felling licence obligations handled and timber feeding our own biomass and firewood operation rather than rotting in a stack.
- Hedgerows and boundaries. Cyclical cutting of estate hedgerows and stock fencing lines, programmed outside nesting season, plus laying and gapping-up where boundaries are being restored.
- Grassland and amenity grounds. Formal lawns and gardens maintained to presentation standard, with flail mowing for paddocks, banks, verges, and conservation margins on their own cutting calendar.
- Drives, avenues, and infrastructure. Avenue tree management, sightline and access clearance, and hard landscaping repairs to estate paths, walls, and surfaces.
- Fencing. Post and rail, stock, and equestrian fencing installed and repaired by the same teams.
A management plan, not a mowing round
Estates differ from standard grounds contracts in that the assets are long-lived and the obligations are layered: TPOs and conservation designations, felling licences, wildlife law, sometimes listed landscape considerations. We start with a baseline: what the estate holds, what condition it’s in, what law applies, and what the owner wants the place to be in ten years. From that comes an annual programme with the right work in the right season, priced as a contract sum, and a record system that evidences the estate’s duty of care. The statutory compliance page sets out the legal layer in detail.
Quietly, and around the life of the estate
Estates are lived in, farmed, shot over, visited, and filmed. Our teams work around events calendars, tenants, livestock, and public access, with RAMS for every operation and a named contract manager who knows the estate rather than a rotating cast. Where estates host events, we’ll programme presentation work to peak before the dates that matter.
Why choose Silver Tree Services
Silver Tree Services has traded for over 20 years from Shurdington, Cheltenham, with 30+ qualified staff across seven specialist teams, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification, ARB Approved Contractor status, and SMAS SSIP accreditation. Crews are NPTC-certificated with IPAF and CSCS where work requires it, RAMS are produced per site, DBS-checked operatives are available for sensitive settings, and public and employers’ liability insurance covers every job. The client list, NHS, Gloucestershire Police, Stroud District Council, Savills, the Church of England, is the vetting evidence.
Areas we cover
Estate work across Gloucestershire, including Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud, Tewkesbury, Cirencester, and the Cotswolds, with commercial work across Bristol, Bath, Swindon, and surrounding counties.
Pricing
Estate contracts are priced from the baseline plan, usually as an annual contract sum with a schedule of rates for additional works. The baseline visit and proposal are free.
Frequently Asked Questions About Estate Management
Frequently asked.
What does estate grounds management include?
It covers the planned care of a large landholding’s outdoor assets: parkland and veteran trees, woodland, hedgerows, grassland, formal gardens, drives, and fencing, organised as an annual programme rather than ad hoc jobs. Silver Tree Services manages estates across Gloucestershire and surrounding counties under a single contract, with a baseline assessment first, seasonal works programmed correctly, and records that evidence the estate’s duty of care.
Can you care for veteran and ancient trees?
Yes, and they’re treated as the irreplaceable assets they are. Veteran trees are managed with light-touch techniques such as retrenchment pruning, which gradually reduces canopy load so an ageing tree can stabilise rather than fail, alongside deadwood management over targets and bracing where justified. Silver Tree Services’ arborists work to BS3998:2010, and veteran tree work is programmed from inspection findings rather than cosmetic preference, keeping old trees standing safely for as long as possible.
Do you handle felling licences and woodland regulations?
Yes. Felling beyond small exempt volumes requires a felling licence from the Forestry Commission, and estates are where this obligation most often bites. Silver Tree Services identifies licensable work at the planning stage, prepares applications, and programmes felling to follow approval, alongside the TPO checks, conservation area notices, and nesting season constraints that apply to estate tree work generally. The estate ends up with a documented, compliant programme rather than accumulated risk.
What happens to timber and arisings from the estate?
They’re put to use. As an ISO 14001 certified company with its own biomass operation, Silver Tree Services processes estate timber and chip into firewood, woodchip, and biomass fuel, and can return material to the estate as mulch, surfacing for rides and paths, or fuel for estate boilers. Nothing goes to landfill, and for estates with environmental commitments the closed loop is documented for reporting.
Can you work around events, tenants, and public access?
Yes, it’s normal estate life and we plan for it. Silver Tree Services programmes works around the estate calendar, prepares RAMS for operations near public access, manages exclusion zones properly during tree work, and times presentation grounds work to peak ahead of key dates. A named contract manager runs the relationship, so the estate office deals with one person who knows the place, not a call centre.
How are estate contracts priced?
From a baseline plan. We walk the estate, assess the tree stock, woodland, hedgerows, and grounds, agree priorities with the owner or agent, and price an annual programme as a contract sum with a schedule of rates for works beyond it. The baseline visit and proposal from Silver Tree Services are free, and phased programmes can be structured around the estate’s budget years.
Ready When You Are
The whole estate, one steady hand.
Invite us to walk the estate with you or your agent, and we’ll return a baseline assessment, an annual programme, and an honest contract price.
Or call · 01242 472560