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If you're a regular visitor to Bradgate Park, especially this time of year, you can't miss the dense thickets of bracken that flourish over its acres of hillside.

It's one of the oldest ferns in existence, with fossil records of over 55m years. But as attractive as these large triangular fronds appear, they have to be kept in check.

It's been a job each year for Stewart Freeman, contractor for the estate's woodlands.

But this year, he is turning back time and swapping the tractor for horse power.

He commissioned a purpose-built bracken basher, a contraption that resembles a large rolling pin, to flatten the ever-growing fern.

Pulled by his faithful horse breeze, Julie Mayer went to see them in action.