Summary

This is a fantastic opportunity to join our talented consultancy as a Gardens and Parks Consultant. We are looking for an experienced horticulture professional to provide specialist support and advice for our operational and consultancy teams on gardens, parklands and their plant collections. We want you to help us maximise the potential of our gardens and to ensure they continue to be highly cared for and enjoyed by many people long into the future. 

You will be working mainly on the West side of the North region and could be based at any one of our hubs in Cheshire, Newcastle or Grasmere, as well as having the opportunity to work from properties and home some of the time.

The advertised starting salary of £40,564 (reviewed April) is for a full-time 37.5 hr/wk position.

We will be interviewing for this role in York on 15 February 2022

What it's like to work here

Our national consultancy is home to specialists in every field of our work, with resources, skills and experience shared across disciplines and boundaries. Our special places benefit from an extraordinary range of creative thinking and deep expertise, supporting our twin purpose of caring for the nation’s heritage and landscapes and making these accessible to all.

National Trust is custodian to the largest collection of historic landscapes in the UK.  The North region is home to many of these gems, with an interesting mix from Beatrix Potter’s Garden at Hill Top in the Lake District to the formal gardens and extensive parkland of Lyme in Cheshire, their histories are varied and fascinating.  You could find yourself contributing to the management and presentation of a landscape within a World Heritage Site one day and the next, advising the gardener at a mansion property about adapting to and mitigating climate change. 

You will be involved in many of the projects currently underway, giving advice to project and garden teams through design to implementation stages and ongoing maintenance plans. It’s an exciting time to join our team and to be part of the national consultancy and gardens community, as we develop our ambitious garden vision over coming months.  

What you'll be doing

You will provide high quality guidance for our gardens, property, and consultancy teams across an assigned portfolio of properties in the region. Your practical horticultural knowledge and skills will ensure our gardens are historically accurate, have appropriate planting, high standards of presentation and reflect their own spirit of place. Through mentorship of head gardeners and involvement in gardener training days, you will further share your knowledge and expertise. Working with garden teams, your support will cover all aspects of horticulture and garden management. You’ll work closely with curators, visitor experience teams and outdoor teams to ensure access, visitor enjoyment and conservation are balanced. 

You will also support project teams in design and planning phases of garden projects, which may include procurement, contractor liaison and maintenance planning.  On large projects, as a member of a multi-disciplinary team, you will provide advice on creation, siting and landscaping of new features, or significant physical changes to gardens and parks.  On smaller projects you may work directly with garden teams, for example, on designs for borders or garden features. 

Working collaboratively with fellow consultants from different disciplines, you will be based at one of our hubs in Cheshire, the Lake District or Newcastle, with regular travel to gardens throughout the region.  As a member of the national gardens team, you will also attend meetings and training elsewhere in the UK.

No two days will be alike. This is your opportunity to really make a difference, working with a national team of specialists to preserve these beautiful and significant gardens for everyone, for ever.

Who we're looking for

We’d like you to bring

• An already established broad and deep knowledge of horticulture, gardens, garden history and plants.
• Extensive experience as a Head Gardener, Garden Manager or Horticultural specialist.
• A recognised higher-level horticultural qualification or equivalent experience. 
• Real passion for horticulture, a can-do attitude and enjoy sharing your knowledge, thereby enthusing all you meet. 
• Strong coaching and mentoring skills are essential in supporting the development of our garden community across the region.
• An up-to-date approach, with the latest trends and developments in horticulture, ensuring we provide the right professional development and guidance for our passionate and committed teams.
• The ability to work with internal and external stakeholders.
• Knowledge of Conservation Management Plans and/or Site Masterplans and their implementation.
• Understanding of visitor experience and their impact on a garden.
• Experience of writing reports and preparing findings for different audiences.