If your garden faces the Solway Firth or sits on one of the exposed ridges above Whitehaven, you already know what a winter south westerly does to a standard fence panel. The good news is that fences fail in predictable ways, and most of those failures can be designed out before a post ever goes in the ground.
Almost every blown down fence we see along the coast has failed for one of three reasons: solid panels caught too much wind, the posts were too short or set in too little concrete, or the fixings rusted through. Salt air corrodes cheap galvanised nails and screws within a few years, and once fixings go, panels start rattling loose long before they blow out.
The wind load on a fence rises sharply with height and with how much of the panel is solid. A 6ft closeboard fence on an open site near Parton or St Bees is effectively a sail. Choosing something the wind can pass through, and building it to a heavier spec than you would inland, solves most of the problem.
Hit and miss fencing is the usual recommendation for exposed gardens, and for good reason. Boards are fixed alternately on each face of the rails with small gaps, so you keep privacy from most angles but the wind bleeds through rather than pushing against a solid surface. Horizontal or vertical layouts both work; vertical tends to shed rain a little better.
Slatted or venetian style fencing with 10mm to 20mm gaps does a similar job and suits more modern gardens. Post and rail with stock netting is the toughest option of all for boundaries where privacy is not the priority, particularly on larger plots towards Egremont and Cleator Moor.
On exposed ground, posts matter more than panels. For a 1.8m fence we would normally set posts at least 750mm into the ground, and often 900mm on really open sites, using a full concrete surround rather than a token collar. Reducing bay width from the usual 1.8m to around 1.5m also cuts the load on each post noticeably.
Concrete posts are the most common choice locally because they do not rot and hold up to salt. Their weakness is that a heavy gust can snap a panel in a slotted post rather than let it flex. Galvanised or powder coated steel posts are increasingly popular for that reason, and a well set pressure treated timber post with a proper concrete base will still give many years of service. Much of the ground around Whitehaven is heavy clay or old spoil, which holds water, so drainage around the base of the post is worth a few minutes' thought.
Use stainless steel or hot dip galvanised fixings, not bright zinc plated screws, which are the ones that leave orange streaks down the boards after a couple of winters. Stainless costs more per box but is a small fraction of the total job.
Choose pressure treated timber rated for ground contact for anything below the top of the gravel board, and fit a gravel board so the featheredge or slats never sit in wet soil. A breathable exterior stain or oil applied within the first few months, and topped up every two to three years, will keep timber from greying and splitting under constant wind driven rain.
A wind resistant specification does add to the price. Deeper post holes, more concrete, closer post spacing and stainless fixings typically add somewhere in the region of 15 to 30 percent over a standard inland closeboard fence. For most Cumbrian coastal gardens that works out cheaper over ten years than replacing lap panels every third winter.
Final cost depends on access, the length and height you need, ground conditions and whether old fencing has to be removed. A site visit is the only honest way to quote, because the same fence on a sheltered street in Hensingham and on an open plot at Lowca are two different jobs.
On genuinely exposed ground, yes. If you need full privacy at that height, hit and miss boards or a slatted design with narrow gaps give a similar level of screening while letting the wind through, and they last a great deal longer.
Both can work if set deep enough in a full concrete surround. Concrete posts resist rot and salt but can snap panels in a severe gust, while steel posts flex slightly and are becoming the preferred choice on very open sites.
With the right timber treatment, proper post depth and stainless fixings, 15 to 20 years is realistic for a hit and miss or slatted fence, with only occasional board replacements and a re-stain every couple of years.
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