Head Gardener at Pashley Manor Gardens

Pashley Manor Gardens is a privately owned 11-acre garden, plus woodlands, on the East Sussex/Kent border.  Open to visitors seasonally from April to September, with several garden based special events organised throughout the open season – we are most well-known for our Tulip Festival, Rose Week and Dahlia Days events. 

Pashley features a Walled Garden, bisected by a Rose Walk lined with espaliered pear trees, with a traditional box hedged Rose Garden on one side and a productive Kitchen Garden, providing fruits, vegetables and herbs for the house and our Café, on the other.  A walled Swimming Pool Garden provides a warmer micro-climate suited to more tender plants and also contains an ornamental greenhouse.  There are sweeping Herbaceous Borders to the East and South of the house and a linked chain of ponds and waterways along the back of the garden.  We have a Bluebell Wood, which is open seasonally, a small orchard and wildflower area, fine trees and beehives.  The garden is also home to ducks, a black swan and doves.  The house itself is the Owners’ private family home, but the North face features beautiful climbing roses, while the South side is home to a magnificent wisteria.   In the private part of the garden there is also a working greenhouse, cold frames, barns for pots and equipment etc., compost heap and a cut flower field.

We are looking for a new Head Gardener with horticultural expertise to inspire and lead our garden team to keep these gardens at their best, and develop them for the future.

You’ll have a passion for gardening and deliver excellent standards of garden maintenance and presentation over the whole garden.  Genuine enthusiasm, energy, keen eye for detail and appreciation of quality, pro-active approach, organisational skills and ability to work calmly under pressure are all essential attributes to bring to the role.

This is a hands-on position so applicants must have a good level of fitness and be able and willing to work outside throughout the year. 

Applicants should have solid, practical horticultural experience, preferably in amenity horticulture (appropriate horticultural training/qualifications are also desirable).  We encourage leading by example and demonstrable people management skills are essential.

Excellent communication skills will be required.  To liaise with the Owners/General Manager regularly on new plans for the garden, work to be done and events etc.  There is also a strong focus on providing a great experience for our visitors – which will involve answering questions in the garden, developing an understanding of the garden’s history and using it to encourage our visitor’s interest in the garden as well as a willingness to inspire and entertain our visitors with garden talks/tours (especially during our special events).

This is a full-time position.   The role requires a flexible approach to working, to include out of hours working as required for watering and events etc., as well as Saturday working on a rota basis and willingness to be one of our first aiders (training can be given). 

As Head Gardener it will be particularly your responsibility:

• To oversee planning the planting in the garden, in conjunction with the Owners/Manager, and help source seeds and plants for the gardens.
• Play an active leading role and ensure the garden team operates with maximum efficiency and with good morale taking care to foster a culture of good teamwork and training and ensuring garden rotas are organised day to day and during our special events. 
• To undertake record keeping – annual risk assessments for staff and visitors, time sheets, keeping COSHH records for chemicals etc. You will maintain, and instigate safety procedures and training for safe use of, garden equipment and machinery and ensure both you and other members of the team comply with all safety procedures.

What you’ll be doing, and supervising others to do:

• Seasonal maintenance of flowers, shrubs, walled gardens, woodland gardens and pots, including trees, hedges, shrubs, roses, climbers, herbaceous plants, fruits and vegetables and annuals. Propagation and plant production and maintenance under glass.
• Formative, seasonal and rejuvenative pruning of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs, climbers and hedges.
• Use of garden machinery as necessary including mowers, strimmers, spraying, tractor and trailers, scarifiers and other machinery.
• Certificate in chainsaw competency and PA1 and PA6a spraying certificates are both desirable, but not essential.
• Mowing and lawn care, as well as knowledge of when more specialist turf maintenance may be required (use of experts/contractors as needed).
• Watering and organising watering/best use of water supply.
• Ordering for the Plant sales area and assigning team members to label, care for and re-stock plants for our plant sales area.
• Optimum use of composting systems.
• Making sure paths, gates, pools, ponds, woodland areas and other hard landscaping features are well maintained and in good working order.
• Ensuring efficient, cost-effective use of resources and ensuring garden machinery and equipment is properly maintained and stored.
• Understanding and encouraging wildlife diversity in order to give our fauna the best care possible. 
• Organising feeding of our ducks and swan, and feeding and cleaning out of the doves.
• Accurate recording and labelling of the plant collection – we label our tulips, roses and dahlias as part of the events we hold around these plants, and plants in the Kitchen Garden too.
• Training and supervising gardeners - you’ll pass on your craft skills to the whole garden team.
• Being familiar with the majority of plants within the garden.
• Carrying out/helping to organise team members to carry out tasks related to the garden being open to the public – e.g. placing and maintaining signs, sculpture placement, allocating staff time to sculpture cleaning, organising furniture placement/cleaning on the terrace, keeping the car park field mown and tidy etc. etc.
• Carrying out/helping to organise team members to carry out tasks related to the estate around the immediate garden – e.g. clearing fence lines, organising log cutting, etc.
• Initially, for at least the first year, this role will be about creative planning, planting and organisation of existing garden features – improving and maintaining what we have to the highest standards.  Into the future the role may then include development of horticultural/hard landscaping works/events as required, in consultation with the Owners/Manager.

What we offer:

Salary and 28 days holiday 

Free entry to the gardens for you and immediate family members

Discount in the Pashley Shop and Café

Use of a card allowing free entry to local attractions

There is a potential for accommodation to be available with this role (salary would then vary appropriately if live in were required)