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Assistant Head Gardener

Employer
National Trust
Location
Dyffryn House & Gardens, St Nicholas, Vale of Glamorgan, CF5 6SU
Salary
£27735 + multiple benefits
Closing date
5 May 2019

Job Details

We're looking for an Assistant Head Gardener who can inspire confidence in the team, adapt quickly to new ways of working and apply their technical knowledge to a range of different tasks and lead on small projects. If you're up to the challenge, then we want to hear from you!

This magnificent Victorian mansion and gardens are situated in the rural Vale of Glamorgan. The sweeping 55-acre estate features a stunning array of garden rooms and a vast collection of plants. A major restoration project at Dyffryn House has created lots of opportunities within the large gardening operation and visitor experience. If you are creative, ambitious and have a great eye for detail, the dedicated 45-member team would love to hear from you.

As a key member of the gardens team your role will principally involve running the gardens day to day operations and working with staff and volunteers to help develop the gardens and the team. We’ve a wide range of tools, equipment and horticultural machinery as well as extensive nursery facilities and workshop space to support the improvement of the gardens.

Working closely with the Head Gardener you will utilise your technical expertise and organisation to be able to deliver the consistently high standards that Dyffryn will become known for. There will be plenty of opportunities for your own personal development as the garden is in a very active phase of restoration. You'll have a supporting role for the implementation of a range of projects planned over the next 10 years as well as many smaller in-house renovations. The gardens support all manner of plant collections and habitats, which you will have a role in managing.

Dyffryn boasts a wide array of varying horticultural elements and has the potential to house one of the most diverse plant collections in the National Trust. The Assistant Head Gardener will bring with them their broad plant knowledge, and maybe a specialism or two. Over the coming years they will help to develop, along with the rest of the team, a plant collection that will elevate Dyffryn to one of the top destination gardens in the UK.

The successful candidate will need to be highly organised, Dyffryn is a large site with a team and equipment to match. You will need to have an efficient and measured approach to get the best for our people and from them. We’ve a great team of staff and volunteers with wide ranging skills and experience so excellent interpersonal skills are a must.

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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