Senior Gardener

Summary

If you want a career in Gardening, we can offer you some of the most beautiful outdoor spaces in the UK to work in as well as one of the largest plant collections in Europe.

You’ll love working outdoors and understand that our gardens and grounds are as significant as our mansion houses and historical places. Our visitors tell us how much they enjoy the peace and tranquillity of our well-kept outdoor spaces, which makes your role vital in making sure they have an amazing experience.

What it's like to work here

Set against Benaughlin and the Cuilcagh mountains in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland Florence Court is the National Trust’s most westerly property.

As Senior Gardener you will manage an Assistant Gardener and a team of dedicated volunteers taking the lead on the future development of several areas of the garden including our Walled Garden, recently restored Glass Houses and the Pleasure Gardens.

You’ll also be responsible for helping with excellent communication of our conservation work to a wide range of audiences, both new and existing, through events and outreach. You’ll share our common cause and build relationships with the local community, proudly representing the National Trust through sharing and promoting the work that we do.

You will appreciate the need to bring in income, so your business ideas will play an important part in the team’s success.

What you'll be doing

This is an exciting role leading the restoration and future development of several garden areas, you will create a garden focused on the visitor offer while taking horticultural presentation to the next level. Being passionate, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the varied plants within the gardens, you will be just as enthused about telling the garden stories to our visitors. In support of this, you will work with site teams to plan a programme of activities in the garden. 

You'll set the direction of how we care for these wonderful gardens, write, and develop both short and longer-term garden management plans and you will deliver these plans by line managing and successfully leading our skilled and dedicated gardens volunteers each day. You'll lead by example, have exceptional gardening skills, understand how to manage the workload for this team, and deliver exceptional training to new and established volunteers. You therefore must be a great communicator and all-round people person; your interpersonal and leadership skills will be just as important as your technical skills in this role.

Please also read the full role profile attached to this advert.

Who we're looking for

To be successful in this role you should be able to demonstrate the following:

• Significant practical experience in horticulture supported by relevant qualifications

• Have supervisory experience from a similar role

• Excellent knowledge of plants

• Competent with the use and maintenance of garden machinery including chainsaws, tractors, hedge trimmers, pedestrian and ride on mowers

• Knowledge of relevant health and safety legislation and practice

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.

• Substantial pension scheme of up to 10% basic salary

• Free entry to National Trust places for you, a guest and your children (under 18)

• Tax free childcare scheme

• Rental deposit loan scheme

• Season ticket loan

• Perks at work discounts i.e. gym memberships, shopping discount codes, cinema discounts

• Holiday allowance up to 32 days relating to length of service, plus holiday purchase scheme, subject to meeting minimum criteria.

• Flexible working whenever possible

• Employee assistance programme

• Free parking at most locations

• Independent financial advice