Fencing in Stokenchurch
The most exposed ground we work on, and the wind decides everything.
Stokenchurch sits on top of the Chiltern escarpment, out on the open plateau where the beech woods thin and the M40 cuts through. It is the highest and most exposed ground on our patch.
Two things follow from that, and they pull against each other. Wind wants a fence it can get through. Motorway noise wants a fence it cannot. Which way you lean matters more here than anywhere else we work.
Wind is the design brief
A solid fence on an exposed boundary is a sail. In a gale the load does not stay in the boards, it goes into the posts, and the posts either snap at ground level or lever their footings out of the clay. That is why the fences that come down up here are nearly always panel fences. A lap panel is one flat sheet with nothing for the wind to pass through, and when a bay goes it usually takes its neighbours with it.
The more air a fence lets through, the longer it stands. Post and rail barely notices the weather and prices at £69 a metre. Slatted screens let wind between the boards at £196. Closeboard sits in between at £150, and it fails a board at a time rather than a whole bay. Lap panels are cheapest at £118 and the thing we come back to first.
If your boundary faces open ground or the top of the hill, think hard before picking Panel to save money. In a sheltered garden it is a sensible choice. Up here it is the option most likely to have us back inside five years.
Price it now →The M40, and what a fence can really do
Anyone near the motorway asks about noise, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a sales one: a standard garden fence does less than people hope. Sound is stopped by mass and by having no gaps at all, which is the exact opposite of what wind wants. A closeboard run built tight to the ground will take the edge off it. It will not turn the M40 off.
Proper acoustic fencing is a different product — heavier, sealed, built to a spec — and it is not in the instant quote. If noise is the main reason you are fencing, put that in the notes and we will price it separately rather than sell you something that disappoints you.
What we build in Stokenchurch
All services →Closeboard / featheredge
The workhorse. Built on site, board by board. 20+ year life.
from £140/mPrice thisPanel (lap / waney)
Fast, tidy and kind to the wallet. Great for garden boundaries.
from £112/mPrice thisPicket
Cottage-front charm. Low, friendly, painted if you like.
from £116/mPrice thisSlatted / contemporary
Clean horizontal lines. The one architects ask for.
from £183/mPrice thisPost & rail (agricultural)
Paddocks, drives and field boundaries. Stock-proof options.
from £65/mPrice thisRepairs & replacement bays
Snapped posts, blown panels, storm damage. Sorted.
from £108/mPrice this
In and around Stokenchurch
All of these are a short run for us, and priced exactly the same as the town itself.
- Ibstone
- Radnage
- Bledlow Ridge
- Piddington
- Studley Green
- Cadmore End
- Beacon’s Bottom
- Wheeler End
- Lane End
- Chinnor
Stokenchurch questions
Our fence blew down and next door’s did not. Why?
Usually one of three things: theirs is closeboard and yours was panels, theirs has concrete posts and yours had timber, or yours catches the wind coming off open ground and theirs sits behind a building. Exposure varies enormously over a short distance up here. If yours has gone once it will go again in the same wind, so it is worth changing what you put back rather than replacing like for like.
What stands up best in the wind?
In order: post and rail, because there is almost nothing for the wind to push. Then slatted, which lets air between the boards. Then closeboard, which is solid but fails one board at a time. Panels come last by a distance. That ranking is the opposite of the price order, which is the awkward part — the cheapest option is the one least suited to an exposed site.
Will a fence stop the motorway noise?
It will reduce it and it will not remove it. Blocking sound needs mass and a completely sealed line, including at ground level where most fences have a gap. Closeboard with a concrete gravel board is the best of our standard builds for it. If noise is the whole point of the job, tell us and we will quote acoustic fencing properly instead of pretending a garden fence will do the work.
How fast can you get out after a gale?
Storm weeks are busy and we work through them in the order the calls come in. Three blown bays price around £610 to £710 through the repair option, so you can get a figure without waiting for us. Send a photo on WhatsApp and we will tell you whether the posts are sound enough to patch it or whether you are better off doing the run.
More of the general ones on the FAQ page.