Job Location : Petworth, UK
We're looking for a Senior Gardener with outstanding leadership skills to join the Gardens and Outdoors Team at Petworth House and Park. This is an exciting role to help in the delivery of a new vision for our Pleasure Ground Garden.
Our gardens and grounds are as significant as our mansion houses, collections, and our historical places, and teams like ours are pivotal in ensuring their conservation and maintenance for our visitors and future generations to enjoy.This is a full-time role, you'll be working Monday to Friday from 8am until 4:15pm, with occasional evening and weekend working to support the property.
First interviews will be held virtually on the 11th April and second interviews will be on site at Petworth on the 17th of April.
What it's like to work here As a team we manage a 40-acre Pleasure Ground Garden and 700-acre Deer park designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. The garden, though originally Brownian has undergone many changes by successive owners to bring us what we see today. A garden of serpentine walks with specimen trees and shrubs with theatrical mixed borders, there is always something to see whether in the height of summer of the deepest winter. The garden lost a lot of its planting and specimens to time and the Great Storm of 1987 and we are working to deliver a program of interventions to reimagine the Pleasure Ground Garden in a way that reflects its ‘Brownian’ roots, its 250 years of changing design, and its Spirit of Place under the expectations of a modern audience. We manage one of the largest collections of ancient and notable trees in the National Trust inside the garden and out, diverse wildflower meadows, vast seas of daffodils and other spring bulbs, and our ever-growing collections of specimen trees and shrubs and mixed theatrical borders.Click here for more information about this location
What you'll be doingWe’re a small team with a big remit and looking to grow in the future along with our planting. You’ll be reporting to the Gardens and Outdoors Manager and you'll assist with delivering the ongoing projects of enhancements to the garden, running the day-to-day operation of the garden team, working with and managing our teams of Horticultural and Grounds person volunteers.
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.
Competent in the usage of machinery in a garden setting, you’ll be responsiblefor ensuring that the tools the team use are maintained and ready to use whenever required. You’ll also make sure that Health and Safety is upheld and compliance tasks relating to the outdoors are undertaken, and records kept. You’ll share your knowledge and love for Petworth with visitors, volunteers, and staff through occasional talks and garden tours.
Who we're looking forWe’d love to hear from you, if this sounds like you:
The National Trust has the motto ‘For everyone, for ever’ at its heart. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. It’s important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we’re for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too.
Click here to find out more about the benefits we offer to support you.