GARDENER Andi Rickard, from Wellington, doesn’t use a lawnmower when she cuts the grass – she uses ‘a long blade at the end of a stick’.

She claims her razor sharp scythe is good enough to shave with and cuts lower than any mower.

Andi, 48, of Clifford Terrace – who appears on BBC television programme Countryfile on Sunday – this year became the first person to win seven consecutive titles at the UK Scythe Championships at the Green Scythe Fair in Muchelney.

In the competition she had to cut a 25 square metre area of grass, which she achieved in two minutes and three seconds, with the quality of the cut also being vital.

Her scythe normally has a blade of 55-75cm, although in competition she uses one 110cm in length, and that is attached to a lightweight, steam-bent ash handle.

Her competitive journey began in 2010 when she went to the scythe fair to do a beginner’s course and ended up winning the competition.

In 2013 she took part in the Eastern Counties contest in Wimpole and cut a quarter of an acre of grass – the only woman who had done that at that time – in three hours.

She says it is vital to keep the scythe super sharp, done with a honing stone or by a method called peening using an anvil and hammer.

The scythe was first used in this country in about 800AD but Andi says it is undergoing a resurgence because it is environmentally friendly, as it requires no fossil fuels, does not create noise and because no certificates need to be held to use one.

Andi said: “Using a scythe is almost meditative – you get in a rhythm, see wildlife and keep fit – I can’t bear exercise for its own sake. The scythe will do anything a strimmer will do more quietly and more quickly – and anything a mower can do except pick up grass.”

Sadly, the scythe manufacturing industry in the UK closed down in the 1980s but it is still going strong in parts of Europe.

In a previous life Andi was a packaging engineer travelling the world to ensure that everything from Mars bars to boxes of medicinal drugs were correctly wrapped but took voluntary redundancy in 2001 to retrain in Horticulture and Landscape Design.

The mum-of-three and member of Transition Town Wellington, who volunteers at the Swains Lane Nature Reserve and the Community Woodland in the town, also teaches people how to use the scythe.

Pupils have included volunteers from National Trust properties and wildlife trusts, and everyone from a sheep shearer to a surgeon, with students aged from seven to 89.

“I have met fascinating people from all walks of life,” Andi added. “The only criteria really is that you should be able to stand up – and scything is really good for your back and core strength.”

Andi says eco-activist Simon Fairlie, of Bridport, has been a big influence on her life. He is a smallholder and author, among other things – and his Scythe Shop, from which she got her first scythe, is the main UK importer of Austrian scythes.