Back to search
FULL-TIME SOLE GARDENER/GROWER REQUIRED FOR HNW PRIVATE ESTATE IN SURREY
Location: Surrey, UK
Salary: £30,000 - £38,000 per annum, depending on experience and qualifications
Contract: Full-Time, Permanent
Status: Live-out
We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Sole Gardener/Grower to join the estate staff at a private high-net-worth property near Godalming in Surrey. Reporting to the Estate Manager, you will take full responsibility for a newly establish 2.5-acre kitchen/produce garden, ensuring that the garden is maintained to the highest standard and that year-round seasonal vegetables, fruit and cut flowers will be produced in semi-commercial quantities to high organic standards.
A large area in and around the garden is dedicated to wildflowers to benefit the wildlife, pollinators and other beneficial insects, and everything in the produce garden is being grown organically and Soil Association approved, so there is minimal environmental impact. The produce is both for the family’s use and to be sold in the local community shops, so the Gardener/Grower should also have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, as they will be the contact in the local and wider community.
Horticulturally trained, you must have comprehensive experience and knowledge of working in gardens and ideally have a few years’ experience on a commercial nursery or farm in a mixture of roles. The role requires a candidate with a plant production background who is hard-working, self-motivated and interested in a long-term opportunity with good potential for professional and personal development. As the kitchen garden is newly established, it will need careful monitoring and require dedication and physical labour to ensure the successful development and maturation of the garden.
A live-out role, you will work Monday to Friday from 8am-5pm, but flexibility to work outside of these hours at times might be required if needed for good plant husbandry (e.g. watering). Due to the rural location of the property, you must be a driver with your own reliable transportation.
DUTIES TO INCLUDE BUT NOT LIMITED TO:
- Participate in weekly work planning meetings
- Attend and cooperate with quarterly appraisal/progress meetings with management and consultant
- Always work within all relevant Health and Safety guidelines
- Take responsibility of all plant husbandry
- Assist with record keeping and keep records at all times available
- Keep harvested product in an organised and hygienic condition
- Keep tools safe, organised and clean
- Be willing to attend any courses and training recommended by Estate management
- Keep the garden, equipment, and buildings always in a '’visitor’’ ready condition and secure when not in attendance
- Work at all times within the guidelines of the Soil Association with the aim to gain and keep Organic Status
- Assist in preparing production plan with the aim to spread product availability as much as possible throughout the seasons
- Supervise any additional staff and contractors
ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:
- Formal horticultural training
- Experience of physical work
- Background in commercial growing & proven experience in relevant roles
- Team player who is happy to report to management and cooperate with consultants
- Tidy in your work with very high attention to detail
- General maintenance skills
- Self-motivated and positive attitude
- Independent and proactive in your ways of working
- Valid UK driving licence
- Eligibility to work in the UK
- Excellent checkable reference
