Lopper Chopper!

We'd never heard of loppers! Dad +Trevor Salmon and I were outside sawing branches of a small tree so they'd fit in the council's garden refuse bag, when out pops the next door neighbour with a pair of loppers! Try these, she said - they'll lop hours off your task!

And she was right! Her pair were a bit ancient, but they did the job. So we thought we'd get a pair for next time and this pair looked pretty similar, but new, and a reasonable price of £16.

Mum +Esther Salmon became a lopper shopper and got them in pronto. Tried them out and just as good as the kindly next door neighbour's. They're made of metal, with grippy handles, bright in 'garden' colours and made by some company that none of us had ever heard of. You've guessed it - we're not gardeners!

There's an added bonus in that you can adjust the 'platform' side of the cutting grip so that it ensures that if you have a very slippery round branch, you can square things up and it won't 'slide out'.

The handles are shorter than we expected, as the older pair's were longer. We thought about sending them back and getting a longer version but actually, they're fine in use and in the end we didn't feel the need to. Recommended! We've now got green fingers!