Avant Tecno expands UK coverage

Avant Tecno expands UK coverage

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Avant Tecno expands UK coverage

Manufacturer of compact multifunctional loaders, Avant Tecno, have announced the appointment of Charlies Ag & Turf as a new authorised dealer, strengthening their coverage and customer support across Wales.

Avant Tecno expands UK coverage

Avant Tecno expands UK coverage

Through the new partnership with the Welsh supplier of agricultural and grounds care machinery, Avant Tecno are able to provide a better service to customers, improving local sales and aftersales support, increasing machine availability and strengthening parts and service coverage within the Mid Wales region.

“Charlies Ag & Turf has built an excellent reputation within the agricultural, grounds care and machinery sectors, with a strong customer-focused approach that aligns closely with our values at Avant. This new appointment represents an important step in strengthening our dealer network and further improving the support, accessibility and customer experience we provide across the UK” says Raimo Ala-Korpi, Managing Director of Avant Tecno UK.

Due to the growing demand of Avant loaders and attachments across British agriculture, equestrian, landscaping, construction and municipal sectors, the company has sought to invest in stronger regional representation by expanding their UK dealer network.

“We’re pleased to be joining the Avant Tecno dealer network and adding their world-renowned, multifunctional loaders to our fleet! Stocking various of their attachments that are purpose-built for specialist task, Avant machines offer outstanding versatility and will help enhance productivity for both our agricultural and turf customers” says Harry Jones, Territory Sales Manager at Charlies Ag & Turf.

Founded in Finland in 1991, Avant Tecno are the world’s first producer of the compact loader – a multifunctional machine built to tackle a wide range of tasks with ease and efficiency.

With over 200 attachments designed to meet the needs of their customers, Avant loaders support productivity across construction, plant hire, agriculture, landscaping, equestrian and property maintenance applications.

Part of the Charlies Stores Group, Charlies Ag & Turf Ltd are a dealer of agricultural and turf products, operating from their depot in Coed Y Dinas, Welshpool.

“Welcome to the Avant family Charlies Ag & Turf, we look forward to working together to continue growing the Avant brand throughout Mid Wales and beyond!” concludes Raimo.

For more information about Avant Tecno, visit https://www.avanttecno.com/uk

For more information about Charlies Ag & Turf, visit https://www.charliesagturf.co.uk/

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SP Landscapes keeps commercial contracts moving with Kubota

SP Landscapes keeps commercial contracts moving with Kubota

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SP Landscapes keeps commercial contracts moving with Kubota

For SP Landscapes, reliability is everything. Operating across East Anglia and beyond, the family-run business has built a reputation on delivering commercial grounds maintenance contracts and domestic works to the highest standard and for more than 30 years, equipment from Kubota has played a pivotal role in that success. Contracts Manager Bobby Luckings explains the importance of the partnership and how, today, Kubota is powering around 80% of their grass cutting operation.

SP Landscapes keeps commercial contracts moving with Kubota

SP Landscapes keeps commercial contracts moving with Kubota

Founded by Bobby’s stepdad Steve Pammenter, SP Landscapes has grown from a garden shed, one van and one push mower to 25 field staff, a large machinery fleet and contracts covering highways, district councils, housing developments and commercial sites. Bobby, himself, has been involved with the company for 20 years – starting off ‘on the tools’ which even then, revolved around Kubota.

“Kubota has been a constant presence for us and every machine we’ve ever used from them is simple to use, reliable and up to task” says Bobby. “We currently have two Kubota ST35’s which power implements for landscaping and groundworks, a BX2200 and multiple mowers from the G and F Series, all supplied by our local dealers Thurlow Nunn Standen (TNS).”

Two of their most recent purchases include the Kubota F391 out-front mower and a G231HD from the popular, professional G-Series. With a 22hp diesel engine, 48” mower deck and high dump collector, the G231HD offers impressive performance, combined with excellent operator comfort and cut capability whether grass is tall or dense, wet or dry. “This has brought fantastic productivity to the cutting of commercial areas, with the high dump feature meaning we can easily empty clippings into the van for recycling at Thetford power station.”

“The F391’s meanwhile are fantastic at manoeuvring around obstacles, so are our go-to for quickly and efficiently cutting some of our larger residential lawns and council green spaces.” Bobby adds, “With the exception of some of the highways and verge maintenance and the really big spaces, everything we cut is done with a Kubota.”

With in-house workshop facilities, the SP team make a concerted effort to keep on top of routine maintenance, which pays dividends in terms of reliability and in-field performance. “We service every machine after 100 hours, grease them daily and clean them down after use. If we look after them, they look after us by return.” This dependability extends to other equipment on the fleet, much of which is powered by Kubota engines. “We’ve so rarely had an issue with an engine that we get real peace of mind when we purchase equipment for other areas of our business and it comes with a Kubota engine!”

On the rare occasion, parts or advice are required, Bobby praises the support from local dealers TNS who have worked alongside SP Landscapes for more than three decades. “They’re knowledgeable, hold a good stock of parts and are always on hand to answer any questions or keep us in the loop with new products or demonstrations.”

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Autonomous mowers help the Belfry maintain world-class conditions

Autonomous mowers help the Belfry maintain world-class conditions

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Autonomous mowers help the Belfry maintain world-class conditions

Husqvarna CEORA® robotic mowers were praised by DP World Tour staff and players as work continued through challenging weather conditions at The Belfry Hotel & Resort, supporting the greenkeeping team in maintaining the Brabazon Course at its world-class best.

Autonomous mowers help the Belfry maintain world-class conditions

Autonomous mowers help the Belfry maintain world-class conditions

Autonomous mowing technology played a key role behind the scenes as The Belfry successfully hosted the 2026 Husqvarna British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, with Husqvarna CEORA robotic mowers continuing to cut the championship fairways despite prolonged thunderstorms and heavy rainfall throughout tournament week.

The performance of the technology also attracted attention from DP World Tour staff and players, with several expressing interest in how the course was being maintained despite the challenging conditions and commenting on the quality of the playing surfaces.

“Tournament week brings significant pressure on the greenkeeping team, particularly when the weather doesn’t go to plan. What stood out was the consistency of the fairways throughout the week and the way the team continued to prepare the course to such a high standard,” said Ben Groutage, DP World Tour Tournament Director. “Husqvarna’s autonomous robotic technology provided an additional level of flexibility and support, enabling the team to keep mowing operations moving when conditions allowed and helping ensure the Brabazon remained in excellent condition for our players,” he added.

Six-time DP World Tour winner and Husqvarna Ambassador Marcel Siem added: “One thing that impressed me a lot, the fairways and greens held up brilliantly despite all that rain. Credit to the whole greenkeeping team and Husqvarna for that.”

With 16 CEORA units deployed across the Brabazon Course, the autonomous fleet formed an important part of the overnight maintenance operation, helping the greenkeeping team maintain consistent fairway presentation in conditions that would have made conventional mowing extremely challenging.

“In the past, such a vast amount of rainfall would have meant we had to re-think our maintenance operation, but with Husqvarna’s robotic mowers, we could keep track of the whole cutting operation,” said Angus MacLeod, Director of Golf Course and Estates at The Belfry.

“The robotic mowers performed exceptionally well and left very little visible marking, allowing us to maintain the presentation of the fairways despite the weather,” he added.

Supported by Husqvarna Fleet Services, mowing schedules could be adjusted at short notice around the weather and tournament tee times, allowing the fairways to be cut at the optimum time before the greenkeeping team commenced its work ahead of play.

Robotic mowers formed part of a wider Husqvarna technology deployment at The Belfry, which also supported maintenance of the driving range and short game area. The Belfry’s greenkeeping team also utilised a comprehensive fleet of Husqvarna battery-powered handheld equipment for detailed course preparation and presentation.

Designed for large-scale professional turf management, CEORA uses satellite-based EPOS® navigation to operate systematically within virtual boundaries. This same technology is utilised within Husqvarna’s residential robotics range.

Autonomous operation allows mowing schedules and designated work areas to be managed digitally, providing course teams with the flexibility to adapt cutting programmes around weather, playing schedules and operational requirements. It is this combination of innovative technology, precision and consistency that sits at the heart of Husqvarna’s Backyard Dreams initiative – a celebration of the connection between the grass cared for at home and the world-class surfaces seen in professional sport.

The same robotic mowing technology used by golf courses to help maintain consistently high standards is also available to homeowners. Husqvarna’s range of residential robotic lawn mowers helps consumers maintain beautifully presented lawns with minimal effort. Backyard Dreams brings that connection to life, highlighting the idea that world-class sport starts in the backyard.

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Why Radley College Continues to Choose MM Seed

Why Radley College Continues to Choose MM Seed

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Why Radley College Continues to Choose MM Seed

When you’ve spent more than 25 years looking after some of the country’s busiest school sports facilities, consistency becomes invaluable. For Adam King, Head of Grounds at Radley College, that’s exactly why MM Seed has remained his first choice for more than two decades.

Why Radley College Continues to Choose MM Seed

Why Radley College Continues to Choose MM Seed

Set within the Oxfordshire countryside, Radley College is home to an extensive range of sports facilities. The team maintains 14 rugby pitches, which become 16 football pitches during the winter, nine cricket squares, a nine-hole golf course and extensive college grounds, supporting around 770 boarding pupils throughout the year.

“It’s all about making sport happen,” says Adam. “The boys are at their happiest when they’re out playing. They learn just as much about teamwork and life on the sports field as they do in the classroom.”

Keeping those facilities performing at the highest standard demands products that can be relied upon year after year. For Adam, that relationship with MM Seed began with a visit to one of the company’s production facilities in the Netherlands, where he saw first-hand the research, development and quality control behind every seed mixture.

“It really opened my eyes,” he explains. “You realise just how much research goes into developing new grasses. Some of the work they’re doing today has been ten years in the making. Seeing how clean everything was and the care that goes into producing the final product gave me a huge amount of confidence.”

That confidence has only grown over the years.

“The cultivars within the MM mixtures have always been excellent,” says Adam. “They’ve consistently stayed at the top of the list. We’ve trialled individual cultivars over the years as well, including Melbourne, which I absolutely loved for cricket. It’s been great having that relationship where we’re able to trial new grasses and see what works.”

Perhaps the greatest endorsement comes from the fact that, despite trying alternative products over the years, Adam always finds himself returning to MM50 for cricket square renovations.

“We’ve used MM50 for more than 20 years,” he says. “Every now and again we’ve renovated a square with another manufacturer’s seed just to make sure we’re still getting the best product. Every single time we’ve gone back to MM50. That’s testament to its consistency.”

That consistency is evident in every stage of the renovation process.

“We get excellent wear tolerance, strong recovery, good germination and a healthy sward going into winter. Those are the things that matter.”

Even during one of the driest summers in recent years, when renovation timings were dictated by prolonged drought, Adam remained confident in the seed’s ability to perform once moisture returned.

“This year has been really challenging,” he explains. “We renovated early but then had virtually no rainfall. Once we started getting some moisture back, the seed came through well. We’ve seen similar conditions before and MM50 has always established strongly once the weather turns in our favour.”

Alongside MM50, Radley College also uses MM60 alongside  MM Tetrasport  across winter sports pitches and MM9 on the golf course, giving Adam confidence across every area of the site.

For Adam, however, it isn’t just about one successful product.

“I think there are three things everybody wants from seed: good cultivars, good germination and cleanliness. MM consistently delivers all three.”

He has also become a firm believer in MM Seed’s Headstart coating technology after initially approaching coated seed with some scepticism.

“I was probably like a lot of people and wondered whether coatings really made much difference,” he says. “But when you compare it with an uncoated seed, the plant just seems stronger. You get that little bit of extra vigour during establishment, whether that’s quicker rooting or stronger early growth. Sometimes that’s all you need to give the grass the best possible start.”

With increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, Adam believes flexibility has become just as important as product choice.

“We can no longer stick to a fixed renovation calendar,” he says. “We have to work with the weather and adapt our timings. That’s just part of modern grounds management.”

What hasn’t changed is the confidence he places in MM Seed.

“When you’ve been using a product for over 20 years and you keep coming back to it, that tells its own story. It’s the consistency that makes the difference.”

Visit the new and improved MM Seed website at www.mm-seeds.co.uk

You can also follow the company on X: @MM_Seed.

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How robotic mowing is transforming daily life at Rowlands Castle

How robotic mowing is transforming daily life at Rowlands Castle

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How robotic mowing is transforming daily life at Rowlands Castle

For Course Manager Kevin Hensman, robotic mowing has been a long time coming. Having managed Rowlands Castle Golf Club for 6 years, he has long believed autonomous technology could play a major role in the future of course maintenance.

How robotic mowing is transforming daily life at Rowlands Castle

How robotic mowing is transforming daily life at Rowlands Castle

That belief became reality when the club introduced robotic mowers from Kress in September and, just a few months on, Kevin says the impact on day-to-day operations has already been significant.

“When I took over 6 years ago, I texted a picture of a robot mower to my boss and said: ‘It’s going to happen one day. I want one of these.’ They’ve always been at the back of my mind.”

Kevin oversees a small team responsible for maintaining 18 fairways while delivering the presentation standards expected by members throughout the year. Like many golf clubs, balancing staffing levels, time and course quality is an ongoing challenge.

“We used to maybe just about get everything done by Friday, but we were always chasing our tails,” he explains. “We only have five staff to get everything done.”

Since introducing robotic mowing, however, the dynamic has shifted dramatically.

At many golf clubs, winter conditions can make it difficult to get machinery onto the course, often leading to long grass and a lengthy recovery period once spring arrives. At Rowlands Castle, the robotic fleet has helped break that cycle.

“We’re a parkland site. We can’t get the machines out all the time,” says Kevin. “Normally as the weather finally starts to warm up and dry out, we have a mountain of grass to cut and by the end of April we are finally getting there.”

Instead, the Kress robotic mowers continued quietly maintaining fairways and key areas throughout the winter months, preserving presentation standards while reducing turf disruption.

“The mowers have just been ticking over keeping the place neat all winter,” he says. “In January I was walking around one of the lovely little par-three holes and that’s when it really hit me. It was looking lovely and we wouldn’t normally have got that cut until probably April.

“That’s when I knew that for this site, they are an absolute game changer.”

The lightweight design of the machines has also proved invaluable during ongoing renovation work around the course. While redeveloping bunkers, freshly laid turf areas were too delicate for conventional equipment.

“We can’t go on the new turf with ride-on’s,” Kevin explains. “But the robotic mowers are light enough that they can. We would quickly map the area and off they would go. Their light touch was just right.”

As with any major operational change, there was some initial scepticism, particularly from members more familiar with traditional maintenance methods. According to Kevin, those doubts quickly disappeared once the results became clear.

“Even the members that were really sceptical about the Kress robot mowers were won over,” he says. “They’re ideal for this place.”

For Kevin, the biggest benefit has not simply been the quality or consistency of cut, but the freedom it gives the team to focus on other important tasks around the course.

“They just free us up to do other things.”

That extra time is now being invested into the finer presentation details that can make a significant difference to the overall golfing experience.

How robotic mowing is transforming daily life at Rowlands Castle

How robotic mowing is transforming daily life at Rowlands Castle

“We take the strimmers around now with us, getting to places we always meant to do but kept leaving,” he says. “Now we have the time.”

Those smaller finishing touches, from edging and tidying around trees to emptying bins and refining presentation, are often the details golfers notice most.

“It’s the little finer details that make the big difference,” Kevin explains. “You can have everything right, but if the bins are not emptied or a certain tree is not strimmed around, those are the things that members notice.”

One unexpected consequence of robotic mowing has been the change in the team’s day-to-day routine. Rather than spending hours on machinery trying to stay ahead of grass growth, staff are now far more visible around the course carrying out improvement work.

“One afternoon my deputy Graeme and I noticed we were dodging more golf balls,” Kevin laughs. “That’s when we realised it was because we were actually out there doing the work, getting to things we’d never had time for before.”

For Kevin, that moment perfectly summed up the wider operational shift taking place at the club. Instead of constantly firefighting, the team is now able to spend more time refining and improving the course. And with the technology still relatively new to the club, he believes they are only beginning to see the full potential.

“It’s still new for us,” he says. “We feel as though we haven’t even felt the full benefits yet.”

At Rowlands Castle Golf Club, robotic mowing is proving to be far more than a labour-saving tool. It is helping a small greenkeeping team maintain higher standards more consistently, improve efficiency during difficult conditions and dedicate more time to the finer details that elevate the golfing experience.

For golf clubs facing increasing pressure on staffing, budgets and presentation standards, Kevin’s experience offers a clear insight into how robotic mowing technology can support modern course maintenance without compromising quality.

For more information, please visit https://www.kress.com/en-gb/

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