Meet two people whose lives have been transformed by a horticultural career change.
Steve Whitehead
Three years ago, Steve Whitehead was very stressed. He was working 12 hours a day, often faced a gruelling three hour commute to and from work, and was constantly under pressure to reach higher targets.
'I was in danger of becoming seriously ill,' he admits now:
'An accountant would ring me at the end of every day to ask if I’d reach my sales targets. It was awful and eventually I just realised that something had to change.'
At the time, Steve was working for a large chain of garden centres in the South East of England. He’d already gone through one career change when he left his job as a warden for the Youth Hostel Association in South Devon, and switched paths to retrain in horticulture, which led to the garden centre job.
'It was a very commercial world and in the end, it just got very depressing. It sound a bit corny now but I felt I wanted to get out of the rat race and do something with ‘meaning’, rather than working flat out to make money for shareholders.'
© NTPL / Andrew Butler
Steve’s desperate need for change brought him to Wales, when he was appointed Head Gardener at the Colby Estate and Woodland Garden in Pembrokeshire. The estate takes its name from John Colby, the industrial entrepreneur who along with Lord Milford mined the area in the early 1880’s. He built Colby Lodge in 1803 to a John Nash design, and used the property as a holiday home for his family. But it was the next owners, the Kay family who really developed the beautiful gardens on the estate, the gardens which have now become a second home for Steve.
'It was really dramatic. I suddenly felt a huge sense of purpose and was actually happy coming into work in the morning. Straight away I could see areas where we could get to work and improve the gardens, particularly for wildlife and of course, for the visitors.'
One of the first projects involved allowing the huge lawned area which runs through the middle of the garden to become a wild-flower meadow, providing a rich habitat for insects and birds. Steve decided to mow paths through the meadow to allow easier access for the public, so that they could enjoy the results. The paths follow a sea-trout breeding stream where several kingfishers have been spotted, along with otters, water shrews, and many different types of insects.
It’s all a far cry from his previous hectic lifestyle and Steve’s enthusiasm for his job is infectious:
'In some ways, I work just as hard as I did before – often the same hours – but there’s a big difference because I really feel I’m achieving something worthwhile. There’s a sense of preserving history here at Colby and enhancing it for future visitors.'
But life isn’t all rosy for Steve. There’s a blot on his landscape, which is threatening almost everything they do in the gardens. The botanic disease Phytopthera has taken hold in the area and although a less virulent strain than the one currently attacking plants in the South West of England, it is a major problem. Rhododendrons are particularly vulnerable and as Colby can boast one of the best collections in South Wales, there’s a very real danger that many plants will be lost to the disease. Routine tests are carried out every couple of weeks and any plants found to be affected have to be destroyed. Just last week, a group of magnolia trees were identified as showing symptoms and Steve and his team are now waiting for a decision as to whether the trees will have to be cut down.
'I’ve got to stay positive but it is really distressing. It affects everything we do – we have to disinfect our tools every time we prune a plant or bush before moving on to the next task. It’s impossible to eradicate and we just have to get on with it. I’m trying to see it all as a chance to redevelop parts of the garden at Colby – otherwise it doesn’t bear thinking about.'
Pat Griffiths
Pat Griffiths has also been plagued by pests in her garden this year. She’s another Head Gardener working for the National Trust in Wales.
© National Trust
'You wouldn’t believe the trouble we’ve had from wildlife!' she exclaims, 'we’ve had pheasants chewing the tops of the lettuce, voles munching the carrots underground, squirrels have pinched the plums and even blue tits have taken a fancy to our peas!'
It’s an occupational hazard for Pat, 59, who for the last six years has worked as Head Gardener at the Llanerchaeron estate in Ceredigion. She’s in charge of an enormous two-acre kitchen garden and a small army of volunteers who help tend to the dazzling array of organic fruit and vegetables which have been grown there for generations.
The entire garden is surrounded by an impressive stone wall, making it a peaceful and colourful place to spend some ‘quality time’.
At one time, in the estate’s heyday, this garden would have helped feed around twenty servants as well as the family who lived in the beautiful house, designed by the famous architect John Nash.
'This garden is really quite unique', explains Pat, who again is someone who clearly loves her job, 'it’s been worked continuously for around two hundred years. The paths and box hedges are all laid out as they were in John Nash’s time and you really get a sense of history while working here.'
Like Steve, Pat hasn’t always worked as a professional gardener. She’s originally from the Cambridgeshire Fens, where she spent several years working as a secondary school teacher. She taught environmental studies which included an element on horticulture. Part of the course involved cultivating a patch of land at the school and teaching the children how to grow plants and vegetables.
'I’ve always loved plants, in fact I studied botany and in helping the children to manage their own vegetable plots I realised that one day, I would love to work outdoors full time.'
© National Trust
After taking a few years off to have a family, that opportunity came when Pat moved to Aberystwyth and started volunteering at Llanerchaeron, helping out for a few hours a week in the garden. 'It immediately felt like home and I felt inspired being in such a peaceful place. Then, when the job of Head Gardener became vacant, I decided to give it a go.'
Pat has been busy ever since and as any gardener knows, there’s never a quiet time in a garden. At the moment, the fruit cages are bursting with red berries, loganberries, blackberries, white, black and red currants, all of which are sold daily in the estate’s farm shop. Runner beans and an unusual stripy bean are also in abundance and the winter vegetables like leeks, cabbages and onions are in the ground ready for winter stews when the weather gets colder.
It’s been temperamental year weather wise for gardeners, which in Llanerchaeron has meant that some crops have done better than others.
'The golden raspberries and asparagus did particularly well this year', says Pat as she wanders among the plants, all neatly rowed and carefully labelled, 'we have special permission from the Crown to collect seaweed from the beach which we then use to fertilize the asparagus plants. The British asparagus season is very short but this year it was plentiful thanks to our special added ingredient!'
Pat is also proud of what she calls her ‘global warming experiment’, a corner of the garden which has been set aside to test whether vegetables which are usually grown further south on the Continent could now be grown here in our increasingly milder climate. These include red peppers, cape gooseberries and tomatoes, which so far, appear to be doing well.
'We’re really trying to carry on the estate’s tradition of being self-sufficient. It’s become quite a fashionable thing at the moment as well, with talk of lowering food miles and buying local produce. All our equipment and seeds are paid for by profits from the sale of our fruit and veg in the farm shop and you get a great sense of achievement in seeing the garden being able to support itself.'
Both Pat and Steve could never imagine working indoors again. Steve has found a way out of the rat race and has great plans for his future on the Colby estate, and in Ceredigion, Pat Griffiths may be the only female Head Gardener working for the Trust in Wales, but she’s convinced she’s found the perfect job for her.
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