What's your gardening history?
After leaving school I took a three year HND course at Askham Bryan College near York and then worked at Kew Gardens for three years. A job came up with the National Trust in the Lake District for a ‘Peripatetic Gardener’ covering the gardens at Hill Top, Townend and Wordsworth House.
I applied and to my great surprise I was offered the job. At various times over the last 30 years I’ve also been responsible for the gardens at Stagshaw and High Close but Hill Top has remained a constant.
What do you like best about working at Hill Top?
I never tire of the way the garden changes so dramatically in spring every year. It goes from the ‘sticks and mud’ of winter to a gloriously colourful cottage garden in just a few months. I also love seeing our visitors discovering scenes in the garden so familiar from Beatrix Potter’s little books.
What is your favourite Hill Top plant?
There’s so many it’s impossible to pick just one. Each season has its stars, from the first snowdrops of early spring, the wisterias and roses of summer, to the dahlias which flower until the first frosts of autumn.