Milton Abbey is a boarding and day school nestled in the heart of Dorset. Founded in the 1950’s, the school is home to boys and girls aged 13-18. Sport plays a major part at Milton Abbey and Headland’s Alex Hawkes has been instrumental in helping improve the maintenance of the on-site nine-hole golf course.

The ever-expanding Milton Abbey site is approaching 100 acres.

As well as the golf course, the other facilities on site include rugby pitches; cricket pitches; an astro-turf surface used for hockey; athletics facilities and even a school farm complete with horses, pigs, goats and sheep.  Philip Cooper is Head Groundsman and has been at the school for the last 25 years, having previously worked in the groundcare industry before joining the school. 

Over the years he has gained significant knowledge and experience in maintaining all types of sports surface – supported by six people on his team. The ever-expanding site is approaching 100 acres in size, meaning a little external help and advice is required at times to keep all surfaces at their best.  

“I have a great working relationship with Alex at Headland Amenity and it was he that really helped me to move into the Greenkeeping side of maintenance,” said Philip.  “He has regularly conducted soil analysis tests across the site to aid in the creation of feeding programmes.” 

This was very helpful following the hot summer of 2013 where Milton Abbey suffered significant turf loss and large areas had to be regenerated through overseeding.  This was followed with the application of Headland C-Complex 4-3-4 which has high levels of humic acid amongst other nutrients that are required to help encourage healthy, strong and rapid growth.   

Philip again, “I’ve got to admit that I had never really thought about wetting agents, but after this incident Alex suggested I try TriCure AD Granular – firstly on the golf greens and then the school’s South and Quad lawns, two of the sites’ major presentation areas. This was then expanded by using TriCure AD Pellets on the Cricket Squares. 

The products have given us great results and has brought massive labour savings to me and my team. I can’t recall the greens ever looking as good as they do now – I’ve had so many positive comments.  I’m so pleased with Headland’s proactive approach to helping customers achieve the best results that I have recommended their products to others.” 

Philip has been spraying Headland’s 20/20/30 mix of Liquid Turf Hardener, Turfite and Seamac ProTurf to help prevent the onset of disease and ensure his surfaces come out strong and healthy in the spring.  

www.headlandamenity.com