Summary

Joining the hard working and dedicated team here at Wiltshire Landscape you will play a key role in maintaining our special places and ensuring they are presented to the highest possible standard. Based at the Countryside Office at West Kennett Farm much of your work will be on the Avebury Estate with opportunities to help out on the wider portfolio of properties including the Stonehenge Landscape WHS and a number of SSSIs and sites of ecological and archaeological significance. As part of the wider Ranger team, we need you to think about our impact on the environment and find better ways to do things.

What it's like to work here

You will be ‘working in the footsteps of our ancestors’ on internationally important archaeological sites and species rich chalk grassland habitats at Avebury and beyond. Avebury is a complex, and very special place. At its heart, is Europe's largest megalithic stone circle which attracts people from all over the world. In the wider Avebury estate you will be working among many significant prehistoric features of the landscape such West Kennet Longbarrow, West Kennet Avenue and Windmill Hill.

Further afield the iconic Stonehenge Landscape covers more than 2100 acres and is full of globally significant archaeological features and rich and diverse natural habitats.

Across the rest of the portfolio you will find rolling chalk downland and dry coombe valleys with an abundance of species rich chalk grassland flowers and butterflies; diverse juniper and blackthorn scrub and woodland habitats and Iron age hillforts with breath-taking panoramic views of the Wiltshire landscape.

What you'll be doing

Your key role will be to undertake a wide range of practical tasks to ensure that our sites are presented to the highest possible standard for the many visitors that we welcome each year. Experience and an aptitude for using power tools, machinery and other equipment and a full UK driving licence will be essential in ensuring that our main visitor areas and sites across the wider Wiltshire Landscape are kept in a fully accessible and presentable manner.

It will be a predominantly practical job where you will be working with experienced colleagues and alongside volunteers. You will implement all aspects of the annual work plan to the highest level and work physically hard to make the most of this stimulating and rewarding position. As part of this role, you will be required to work some weekends and Bank Holidays and also be prepared for an early start on selected weekdays before the properties become busy.

With your endless passion for our work, you’ll help with the protection and care of habitats, wildlife, property and machinery, and your passion will inspire others to love these beautiful places as much as you do. We want you to engage with visitors, making time to talk to them, not rushing away to the next task. 

As an easily identifiable member of the Ranger team, on your best day you will be creating lasting memories for everyone. So whether you’re maintaining our green spaces to assisting with guided visitor walks, through to delivering a wide range of engaging visitor experiences, no two days will be the same. You’ll also share and promote the work that we do here, ensuring special places like these are here to be both protected and enjoyed by everyone for ever. 

Who we're looking for

To deliver this role successfully, you'll need to:

• Demonstrate a willingness to work alongside volunteers and be able to support them to perform at their best

• Have a commitment to customer service standards and experience of its delivery

• Demonstrate a passion for nature and the outdoors

• Have good written and verbal communication skills

• Have good people skills enabling strong relationships externally and internally, to be built and maintained

And you'll need to demonstrate the following experience on your CV;

• Practical experience in land, conservation and access management, to level 2 (or equivalent level of vocational experience)

• Some experience of delivering engagement activities that help build or strengthen visitors’ connections with nature and the outdoors

• Familiarity with machinery/equipment and practical certificates as required by the property

• Full UK driving licence is required for this post

The package

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.

Wherever you’re from, and whatever your background, we want to hear from you – and it doesn’t matter if you’re jam first, cream first, or even if you don’t like scones at all. Everyone is welcome.

Benefits for working at the National Trust include:

• Flexible working whenever possible

• Free parking at most locations

• Free entry to our properties for you, a guest and your children (under 18)

• Substantial pension scheme of up to 10% basic salary