Garden and Vineyard Assistant

This is a great opportunity to join a small, friendly team managing the gardens, estate and vineyard at an historic manor house in Surrey.

We are looking for someone who is keen to gain practical experience undertaking a broad range of general garden, estate and vineyard tasks including working with a variety of machinery. The ideal applicant would be adaptable, organised, with a positive, hard-working attitude who wants to acquire new skills and broaden their horticultural knowledge. The estate comprises extensive formal and informal gardens, large paddocks, woodland, a seven acre vineyard producing sparkling and still wines and is the venue for several well-established charity events during the summer.

In the garden and estate the main tasks you will be expected to undertake initially will be:

• Lawn mowing using pedestrian mowers
• Mowing adjacent fields using a ride-on mower
• Strimming paths and banks and outlying areas,  keeping paths swept and raking over the gravel drive as necessary
• Leaf blowing and collection
• Helping to manage the ponds by removing weed and algae
• Assisting in the programme of lawn care including scarifying and aerating
• Helping to manage the small herd of Alpaca
• Repairing fencing as necessary
• Various planting tasks (inc. mature shrubs and trees)

In the vineyard you will assist with:

• Mowing rows and headlands and general strimming
• Tucking in and training new shoots
• General leaf canopy and fruit management through the season as necessary
• Harvesting and transportation of grapes to the winery

In-house training will be provided in the use of machinery as appropriate : tractor driving with flail mower, zero-turn ride-on mower, pedestrian mowers, use of strimmers, hedge cutters and leaf blower.

External training and certification will be provided for the use of the tractor-towed mist sprayer in the vineyard ( PA1 + PA3). Additionally, training can be provided for chainsaw certification ( ground based only).

Please send a covering letter with your CV.