Hello. . .
My love for gardening and plants began as a small child, whilst spending many happy times gardening with my grandparents in their beautiful Kentish gardens. My grandmothers Nelly and Maureen took care of their flower gardens whilst grandfathers, Bernard and Dennis, grew vegetables and fruit in their designated patches.
In my twenties I trained and worked in marketing and then architecture but neither of these professions were tactile enough. I wanted to use my hands and connect with nature and the outdoors.
At 31 I reintroduced myself to soil again whilst volunteering at a Soil Association accredited farm on the outskirts of Brighton. I got stuck into growing veggies for their Community Supported Agricultural Scheme and caught the gardening bug!
Soon I was signed up to study an RHS Level 2 Diploma course in London and combined working as a private gardener with a year and half at the Chelsea Physic Gardens, as a Horticultural volunteer.
I went on to complete a WRAGS traineeship at a Cut Flower growers garden in Essex and then selected for a highly valued placement on a two-year Historic & Botanic Garden Traineeship, where I worked as a trainee at Nymans, in West Sussex.
At Nymans I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity: to research, re-design and re-establish the 70m long double Edwardian Spring Borders originally created by Muriel Messel. After completing this restoration project along with my traineeship and RHS Level 3 Diploma, I relocated to Gloucestershire to work as a gardener at the world renowned Hidcote Manor Gardens, considered one of the most influential gardens of the 20th century.
During my three years at Hidcote, I worked across the entire garden as well as being solely responsible for the maintenance and development of the Norah Lindsay inspired Long Borders. The senior team decided that I was to become the ‘Rose Expert’ and I immediately went to work on researching and restoring the large collection of roses, giving guidance and tuition on pruning and training methods for staff, students and visitors.
In my final year at Hidcote, I was seconded into a Senior Gardener position, looking after all propagation, display houses, and the nursery area, whilst continuing with my responsibilities in the Long Borders and rose collection.
With a thirst for knowledge I took full advantage of the opportunities my HBGTP traineeship afforded me, gaining training at some of the best gardens in the UK: Sissinghurst Castle Gardens in Kent, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, and Gravetye Manor in West Sussex, to name a few!
During my time at Hidcote, I continued cultivating a greater depth of horticultural understanding in the gardens there as well as from placements at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the organic Kitchen Garden at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire. To develop my pruning and training skills further I spent a number of days working with gardeners at the National Collection of Old Roses at Mottisfont Abbey, in Hampshire.
A gardener is always learning and I have been fortunate to work with lots of great gardeners in different garden settings and soils. I thank the gardening community for always being so open with their knowledge and time to support me on my own plant lined path.