Head Gardener

Head Gardener required for Highclere Castle , Newbury

Highclere Castle is a well known Grade 1 Heritage building set in a beautiful 18th century park and gardens in North Hampshire.  We are well known for being the location for the successful TV series Downton Abbey and have over 100,00 visitors to the Castle & park each year.

We require a Head Gardener to lead our experienced team who look after an area of 22 acres in which are set both formal beds (Monks garden, White Border & Secret Garden)  and green houses as well as a 4 acres wild flower meadow and 5 acre arboretum which has shrubs and bulbs as well as a collection of native and exotic trees.

The position of Head Gardener at Highclere requires an experienced plants person who has strong knowledge of annual & perennial plants and shrubs, experience in planting interesting and original borders,  a full understanding of green house horticulture for tender and indoor plants especially citrus &  geraniums as well as growing from seed and growing on from plug plants. The green houses are heated and unheated and are key to the maintenance and production of indoor plants for the Castle State rooms and propagation for the borders.

The applicants for this role must be very enthusiastic about the management and development of a relatively large garden area and have an understanding of both borders which need to be full of colour from  May to September as well as looking after a wild flower meadow with what are now rare chalk down land species and an open woodland garden with young mostly deciduous trees and many thousands of bulbs and some rare wild flowers.

There are 9 acres of lawns to be kept mowed and tidy as well as helping with Castle events which are involve visitors enjoying the gardens on special themed or charity days.

The gardens team also look after our 2.5 acres vineyard in the old Walled Garden separate to the Castle which has Chardonnay & Pinot Noir grapes

Applicants for this post must enjoy meeting and talking to our many visitors as we are very much a public facing venue and we have a strong Health & Safety policy for both employees and the visiting public.

The job requires a fully Hands On leader of our team of 4 assistant gardeners and there is a considerable amount of planning and preparation each year to maintain the borders of our more formal areas.  An interest in garden design and future planning is very helpful.

Accommodation on the Estate is offered with this role if the successful applicant is coming from out of our area.

Apply here