Gardener
Our client is looking for an enthusiastic and energetic gardener to join their small and friendly team to help maintain and enhance the gardens and grounds of this wonderful country estate, tucked away in a semi-rural location, just outside of Tunbridge Wells. The estate extends to 28 acres, comprising an impressive 19th century house and coach house, with an ornamental garden of just over 3 acres, woodland, pasture and ponds. The property is owned by a delightful family, who employs a small team of gardeners to maintain the grounds.
The garden has recently undergone a major re-development, under the direction of a recognised garden designer and is maintained to a very high standard. The features of the garden are varied and include a cut flower garden, glasshouse, orchard, ornamental meadows, roof gardens, mixed and shrub borders, formal and informal hedging, topiary, roses, and a fine lawn.
The garden is used for events and there is also an aspiration, in the near future, to open the garden to the public under the National Garden Scheme. There is a growing menagerie of animals, which the garden team help to care for, including alpacas, ducks, chickens and bees.
There is plenty of opportunity to be creative in this role, as the new beds and borders are tweaked or re-designed, and with the creation of seasonal pot displays and the on-going development of the cut flower garden. Projects for this year include the addition of a woodland garden and shrubbery for cutting.
For this position, candidates are expected to have obtained a horticultural qualification such as RHS level 2, or equivalent, and have accumulated at least one year’s practical experience. The role will require a keen interest in gardens accompanied by a good level of plant knowledge and experience in the use of a wide range of estate gardening machinery. As such, candidates will need to be involved in plant propagation, feeding and watering plants, monitoring and controlling pests and diseases and cultivation of fruit, vegetables and cut flowers. Candidates will need a good awareness of health and safety when working in the garden and PA1/6 spraying certification is desirable but not essential for this position.
The successful candidate will be professional and conscientious, with an eye for detail and a desire to achieve high standards in tasks such as bed and border maintenance, meadow maintenance, woodland management, mowing, blowing, strimming as well as the pruning of trees, shrubs, hedges and topiary. The gardener will need to be self-motivated, with the ability to work at pace, using your own initiative as well as willing and able to work alongside the team, under the instruction of the head gardener. Other day-to-day activities involved in the role include but are not limited to monitoring and maintaining irrigation systems, maintenance of water features and animal care.
This is a full-time gardener position, working within a team that includes the Head Gardener, a part-time gardener and a WRAGS trainee. The hours are 08:00 – 16:45, Monday – Friday, which includes two breaks, totalling 45 minutes. Very occasional weekend or out of hours work may be requested during the growing season, to cover watering duties and other essential tasks. Annual leave is 21 days + bank holidays.
SALARY: Up to £24,000 DOE
LOCATION: Kent
JOB No: EC43136
If this Gardener vacancy is of interest, please apply or contact Niall Anderson on 01233 733510 or info@englishcountrygardeners.co.uk.
You will need to be registered with English Country Gardeners to find out where and how your personal data is used whilst using our work finding services please view our privacy policy.
Thank you for the interest you have shown in this Gardener vacancy. Unfortunately, due to the high volume of applications that we receive, it is not possible to respond to every one. Therefore, unless you hear from us within the next 14 days, your application for this Gardener vacancy will have been unsuccessful.
