Sholden is a small village next to Deal on the road to Sandwich, with a school, a cricket field and one pub, and a church, St Nicholas, listed at Grade II*. The 2011 census counted 1,084 people. The more useful fact for a lawn is what lies next to it. The Dover District landscape assessment describes the Lydden Valley, south east of Sandwich and north west of Deal, as extremely flat, with marine alluvium and seasonally wet deep clay soils, drained by ditches and pumps. It records high groundwater levels in places, and a small section of peaty soil over the alluvium to the west of Sholden.
As general guidance, a lawn on that kind of ground is slow to dry in winter and compacts easily underfoot. The remedy is hollow-tine aeration in autumn or spring when the soil is moist but not saturated, followed by overseeding to thicken thin areas. Heavy machinery on a wet clay lawn causes more harm than good, so timing matters more than technique. Our guide to lawns on East Kent soils explains why the ground behaves this way.
The land rises away from the valley. A conservation appraisal for nearby Great Mongeham mentions the higher ground of Sholden Downs, where crop marks show best on thin soils. Thin soil over chalk is the opposite problem: it dries out in summer and can look stressed within days of dry weather. So a Sholden lawn on the higher side of the village may want regular feeding and watering, while one near the valley floor may want drainage relief. It is worth noticing which end of that spectrum your garden sits on.
Newer homes are a local feature too. Dover District Council has bought 23 new homes at Sholden Meadows on Sandwich Road, a mix of two, three and four-bedroom houses. General guidance: lawns laid on new-build plots are often put down on subsoil compacted by building work, with little topsoil, which is why they can stay patchy and waterlogged for years. Hollow-tine aeration and a good autumn overseed are the usual first steps, and where a lawn is beyond that, lawn restoration starts again properly.
No single routine suits every garden here. Our annual plan sets out the year, and the autumn timetable explains what happens in autumn. A photo and the size of the lawn are enough for us to tell you what we would do first. Thatch and moss, helped by scarifying, are the other common problems on lawns that stay damp.
What we do in Sholden
- Scarifying Lift moss and thatch so water, air and feed reach the roots.
- Hollow-tine aeration Pull out cores to relieve compaction and let the soil drain and breathe.
- Overseeding Put new grass into thin and worn areas.
- Lawn restoration Scarify, aerate, overseed and feed in one planned visit.
- Lawn maintenance Regular mowing and general lawn work between treatments.
Prices are the same everywhere we work. A typical 100 m² lawn is £135 for a Lawn Refresh, £230 for Lawn Recovery and £325 for Lawn Restoration. Pay for the year and save 10%.
Questions
Why is part of my lawn boggy while my neighbour's is fine?
Ground in this area changes quickly between clay, silt and thinner soil over chalk, and a compacted patch or a low spot holds water. Aeration relieves compaction, but a low spot with a high water table may need a drainage fix. A photo helps us tell which it is.
My new-build lawn is patchy. Is that normal?
It is common. Building work often leaves compacted subsoil under thin topsoil. Aeration, overseeding and sometimes restoration with improved topsoil help. It usually takes a full season to see the lawn thicken.