SPECIALIST MOWERS
Husqvarna Automower® Robots
Amaze Waddesdon Manor Guests
uckinghamshire’s Waddesdon
Manor has recently turned to
Husqvarna Automower® to
maintain a complex grass maze situated
in the middle of a wild grass area at the
property.
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Located in the Aylesbury Vale,
Waddesdon Manor is a Grade I listed
house and Garden which was built for
Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the
1870s. The stunning location is owned by
the National Trust, and managed by the
Rothschild Foundation and is one of the
Trust’s most visited garden properties,
with over 471,000 visitors in 2018.
This summer, the gardens team of
Waddesdon Manor saw the opportunity
to install a grass maze at the location
and were keen to explore an automated
solution in order to keep the walkway
section of the maze maintained.
The use of automated technology was
important to the team’s plans due to the
location and the amount of time it would
take to maintain the maze. Because of
the distance between the maze and the
team’s machinery sheds, this presented
a problem. Furthermore, as the maze
area was complex to cut, it would take a
lot longer for the team to complete.
Authorised Husqvarna dealer, RT
Machinery, provided advice on
Husqvarna Automower® and completed
an initial assessment followed by an
expert installation which required two
Husqvarna Automower® products to
be installed in order to deal with the
complexities of the maze.
This installation was challenging for the
obvious reason of the maze’s layout but
also because the machines needed to
find their way home to their respective
charging points. Typically, the mowers
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would have guide wires to guide them
to their charging station, however blind
alleys meant this couldn’t be done –
further increasing the challenge.
Over a two-month period the Husqvarna
products have excelled. Gardens
Manager, Mike Buffin, commented on
the performance of the products in light
of the challenging location: “We’ve been
very impressed with the two Husqvarna
robots and they have shown just how
well they can handle complex areas by
keeping our maze in great condition. The
mowers have been out cutting whilst
people are in the maze, something which
we didn’t think would be possible initially.
Children find them fascinating and we’ve
seen people follow them as they go
about their work.
“The robotic mowers have saved the
grounds team a great deal of time,
allowing us to focus on other tasks
whilst the maze is taken care of. We have
asked guests to come up with names
for the two robots and people have been
tracking them on Facebook, which is
fantastic to see.”
Waddesdon Manor is part of a growing
list of locations across the UK putting
their faith in Husqvarna Automower®.
These range from municipalities
(Edinburgh, London & Glasgow), botanic
gardens, multi-national headquarters,
stately homes, sports facilities,
universities & schools and zoos & animal
parks.
To learn more about its technology and
for more information on the Husqvarna
Automower® range visit:
www.husqvarna.com/uk/products/
robotic-lawn-mowers/
GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Sept/Oct 2019