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Senior Gardener

Employer
National Trust
Location
AL6 9BX, Welwyn
Salary
14,960
Closing date
4 Feb 2019

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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

Shaw’s Corner was first the country retreat then permanent home of George Bernard Shaw and his wife Charlotte. The property is Edwardian, its initial purpose was of rectory and later private house. The original garden was extended in 1920 an is around 3.5 acres in total. The garden comprises of lawns, borders, small orchard and small woodland area. The famous writing hut is situated at the bottom of the garden and there a few well-loved small sculptures.

This property would suit someone who enjoys a challenge, the garden has been maintained rather than managed for many years. Exciting new research has provided us with lists of seeds and journal entries by Charlotte that reveal more of what the garden meant to the Shaw’s and what it would have looked like. We are just about to embark on creating a conservation management plan and invest in the much needed revitalisation of the garden. As Senior Gardener you will be in the driving seat, you will be the lead for creating new maintenance plans, creating work plans to restore what has been lost and recruit and train a new volunteer team. You will be starting from scratch, you will need to work with the Operations Manager and House team to create your work and store environment, purchase all of the required equipment whilst helping to develop the visitor experience in the garden.

If you would like to visit the garden, or have a chat about the role, please contact Jacqui Mooney, Operations Manager 07730 698 455.

 

What you'll be doing

You’ll love working outdoors and understand that our gardens and grounds are as significant as our mansion houses, collections and our historical places. Our visitors tell us how much they enjoy the peace and tranquillity of our well-kept outdoor spaces, which makes your role vital in making sure our visitors have an amazing experience.

We don’t just need you to manage our beautiful gardens, although this is an important part of the role; we’d like you to help manage the team too. As the Senior Gardener in our team, we’d like you to lead by example, with exceptional gardening skills, but you’ll also understand how to manage the workload for this team, and deliver exceptional training to new staff and volunteers.

 

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

Benefits

Find out about the benefits we offer to support you on our NT benefits page (click on the link in the grey box from our advert page).

Benefits include flexible working whenever possible plus free parking at most locations. You’ll be entitled to discounts in high street stores and cinemas, National Trust shops and NT cafes, and have free entry to NT properties for you, a guest and your children (under 18).

Your health and wellbeing is important to us and is supported through generous annual leave and the option to buy additional days (minimum contract length applies), a cycle to work scheme, subsidised health cash plan and confidential access to a free support service 24 hours a day should you need it.

Your future financial health is helped by an employer matched - up to 10% of basic salary - contributory pension scheme and you can further your career with training and development tailored to you.

All of this and the opportunity to give something back to your community with up to 5 days of paid volunteering per year!

 

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?

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