Picket fencing in Broadstairs.

Where picket suits the town

Broadstairs has a lot of cottage-style stock in Viking Bay's back streets, in St Peter's older village core, and on some Stone Bay side streets. A closeboard fence looks brutal on those frontages. Picket in white paint or a natural stain is the right register: 3ft or 4ft tall, spaced pickets, top rail, decorative post caps if you want them.

Materials and finish

We build picket from tanalised planed softwood as the standard, redwood or western red cedar as the upgrade for anyone who wants the fence to weather naturally to silver without any painting. Standard picket dimensions are 70mm wide by 20mm thick, with a 40mm gap between pickets. Custom picket profiles (dog-ear, gothic, round-top) available as spec. Paint finish in Farrow and Ball exterior or an equivalent Dulux Weathershield, cut back and applied on site after fitting.

Front gardens and conservation areas

Front-garden fencing in conservation-area parts of Broadstairs old town needs consent from Broadstairs and St Peter's Town Council for anything above 1m adjacent to a highway. That is the practical limit anyway for a picket fence, which typically sits at 900mm to 1200mm tall. We deal with the town council conversation as part of the scope on any conservation-area picket run.

Pricing

Picket runs £55 to £85 per linear metre supplied and fitted, depending on picket spec and finish. Painted finish adds a day's work per 8 to 10 metres. Photo quote via WhatsApp gets you a fixed number.

Turnaround

Straightforward 10 to 15 metre picket run in tanalised softwood is a one-day job. Add a day for paint. Kingsgate and North Foreland front gardens are usually not picket territory: the wind takes the boards off. Sheltered plots only.