Pest Control in Stoke-Sub-Hamdon

Stoke-sub-Hamdon is a village at the foot of Ham Hill in south Somerset and it is from this very hill that the famous golden Ham stone was quarried. The village is built almost entirely from this local stone, giving it a warm, unified appearance that catches the light beautifully on a summer evening. The National Trust's Stoke-sub-Hamdon Priory and the many 15th to 18th century cottages around the village are a testament to the enduring quality of the stone. But while Ham stone is hard-wearing, the mortar between the blocks is not and as lime mortar ages it crumbles and creates gaps. Mice are quick to exploit these openings, finding routes through wall cavities and into roof spaces that homeowners may not even know exist.

Ham Hill itself, rising above the village, is a country park with extensive grassland, old quarry workings and scrubby woodland. This semi-wild landscape supports a healthy wildlife population, including rodents that move down the hillside into the village. The farmland on the other sides of the village adds to the pressure, with livestock and arable operations keeping the local rat and mouse numbers topped up throughout the year. Drainage ditches and overgrown hedgerows connect the hill and the fields to the village, providing covered routes for rodent movement.

The sheltered position at the base of Ham Hill makes Stoke-sub-Hamdon reliably warm during summer and wasp nests are a predictable seasonal issue. The old quarry stone walls, garden outbuildings and roof spaces of the village provide exactly the kind of dry, sheltered cavities that wasps look for. Our technicians cover the Hamdon villages regularly and are experienced in working sensitively with older stone buildings where the aim is to solve the pest problem without damaging the fabric.