Catrina Saunders at The Courts, Wiltshire

Cat Saunders was an archaeologist for 10 years, before embarking on a second career in horticulture in her late twenties.

On completing her training, she worked first as a self-employed gardener and then in a private garden. Her employment with the National Trust began with a four year stint as Senior Gardener at Knightshayes Court, in Devon.

She moved to The Courts as Head Gardener in early 2005 and tends the seven acre garden with two other full-time staff, one part-timer and 10 volunteers.

Why did you choose gardening as a career?

I’ve always enjoyed working outside. That’s one of the reasons I first started out as an archaeologist. But when I wasn’t on a dig, I would find myself sitting in an office, staring out of the window and longing to be out in the countryside. So changing to horticulture was a natural move, really. The love of it just comes bubbling through.

Describe The Courts in one sentence.

It’s a little gem - the perfect English country garden. It has something of everything, with formal areas of topiary and herbaceous borders, an arboretum and a water garden that dates from when there was a mill on the site.

© NTPL / Stephen Robson

Which area do you like working in best?

I’m quite attached to the area around the Dye Pool - the planting there is full of shrubs and it has a lush, jungly feel to it.

What is the biggest challenge at The Courts?

Over the next two years, we need to get to work repairing and relining the ponds. That’s a major job.

What other garden might you like to work in?

Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town. South Africa’s natural flora is one of the richest in the world, so it would be fascinating to work with plants that we can’t get away with growing in this country.

If you could meet a famous plantsman from history, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Oh, definitely Ernest Wilson, and I would ask him about his most dramatic plant hunting expedition to find the regal lily, when he suffered a broken leg, was stepped over by a train of donkeys, yet still managed to hold on to the precious bulbs!

Interview: Anne Esden