Skip to main content

This job has expired

Senior Gardener

Employer
National Trust
Location
HP14 4LA, High Wycombe
Salary
23,375 pa
Closing date
26 Dec 2018

View more

Contract Type
Permanent
Hours
Full Time
Function
Gardening Jobs

Job Details

If you want a career in Gardening, we can offer you some of the most beautiful outdoor spaces in the UK to work in as well as one of the largest plant collections in Europe.

 

What it's like to work here

The country home of Victorian Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Hughenden Manor is an impressive red brick mansion surrounded by rolling parkland. The team manages a visionary visitor experience, which has won awards for its forward-thinking approach to display and storytelling. Hughenden Manor is situated a short distance from High Wycombe and local transport links are excellent.

Perched on a hilltop, the country home delivers historic vistas of the surrounding woodland and valleys that come into their own. Its tree-filled pleasure gardens are a mosaic of colour, with the rich golds and reds of the beech trees contrasting to the lush evergreens.

 

What you'll be doing

 At Hughenden we have several exciting projects for the garden which we would like to you to lead;the research and design of the pleasure ground planting schemes to restore it to its former glory and add in an extra layer of winter interest to the garden,scent, colour and delight being the key elements we are hoping to include. We have a fantastic walled garden which has lost its sense of purpose and you will have the task of bringing it to life for our visitors and providing some produce to our café. We are also looking to improve our facilities for our younger audiences which we would ask you to contribute to the planning and implementation.

Our National Strategies will involve the gardens including planning programmes with the V.E teams for health and well being using the gardens,adding to our healthy beautiful natural environment programmes, enhancing the possible areas of the gardens to complement this. We are also planning working more closely with our visitors to increase our diversity of appeal and include audiences who may not have visited us before; you will work closely with the whole property teams on this.

You will line manage a part time assistant gardener and an enthusiastic band of volunteers and be responsible for the operational and project budgets for the garden.

You will be part of a large regional gardens team and will attend regular training and meetings lead by the gardens consultancy. CPD is provided both regionally and nationally which we emphasis as part of the career development available in the National Trust and would be supportive of your training needs to further your career with us. You will be a key member of the portfolio team and the gardens custodian and advocate.

 

Who we're looking for

To be successful in this role you should be able to demonstrate the following:

  • Significant practical experience in horticulture supported by relevant qualifications
  • Have supervisory experience from a similar role
  • Excellent knowledge of plants
  • Competent with the use and maintenance of garden machinery including chainsaws, tractors, hedge trimmers, pedestrian and ride on mowers
  • Knowledge of relevant health and safety legislation and practice

 

The package

Looking after you

  • Health cash plan – from as little as £3.09 per month for you and your dependents
  • Pension contribution match up to 10%
  • EAP and proactive Health and Wellbeing
  • Discounted gym membership at over 100 leisure facilities across the country

Looking after your career

  • Grow your career through professional training courses across the Trust
  • Develop your skills with an internal secondment
  • Pay review linked to values and behaviours, commitment to progression
  • Income protection due to illness

Unique to Us

  • Work in some of the most beautiful, iconic and unique locations in the UK
  • Free entry to NT properties for you, a guest and your children (under 18)
  • 20% off in our Retail and Food & Beverage outlets
  • Discount up to 35% off a National Trust holiday cottage booking

 

 

 

 

Company

There's no other organisation like the National Trust. No other organisation that brings such an amazing variety of places and spaces to life.

We are a charity founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, three people who saw the importance of our nation’s heritage and open spaces, and wanted to protect them for everyone to enjoy. More than a century after we were founded, our values are still at the heart of everything we do. And we do a lot more than you might think. 

We welcome some 22.5 million visitors, from all ages and backgrounds, every year. We care for historic houses, gardens, mills, forests, castles, miles of coastline, islands, holiday cottages, pubs and inns, whole villages and even a goldmine. We also run a huge retail chain, a multi-million pound food and beverage business and much, much more. And we do all of this so that everyone can enjoy and make the most of the green spaces and beautiful places that England, Wales and Northern Ireland has to offer. 

The National Trust is described by its employee gardeners as “dynamic, supportive, inquisitive and fun”, where its beautiful places “lift your spirits naturally” and “somewhere you can expand new skills”. The organisation is currently recruiting for a number of gardening roles. 

Read more in our latest articles:

What makes the National Trust a special place to work?

Company info
Website

Get job alerts

Create a job alert and receive personalised job recommendations straight to your inbox.

Create alert