About Neil
I'm a true Man of Kent - I live here and work here and I was born here - but when I look at my hands now it's strange to think I used to work as a Broker in the City. I was there until the 1990s when a downturn in the economy meant redundancy. At the time it was a great shock but coming back to Kent made it look like one of the best strokes of luck you could have. It was like my home county took me back with open arms.
It's always been the garden of England, so I guess gardening's in my blood but with my life in London offices I'd only ever seen it as a hobby (it was something I loved, after all, how could that be work?!). But while looking for something more permanent I started doing the odd bit of gardening work on the side. And things grew, as they do in Kent, and before you know it I had a flourishing gardening business. Which was almost perfect - except that working for yourself means things aren't always going to be easy, and certainly not idyllic. Until one day, while wandering around the beautiful, award-winning gardens at Hever Castle, I thought this is it: a way of making sure things always are! Completely on the off-chance I asked if there were any jobs going - and I've now been here for over eight years, the last four as Head Gardener.
All I can say really, is I love it. I look after a team of ten gardeners maintaining 40 acres of romantic, Edwardian gardens and park-land. I see my desk... occasionally, and spend most of my days with two of the most important things you can think of: plants and people. So if it's not planning, potting and planting it's sorting out special events, talking to visitors and just sharing my passion for this place. And I'm not just talking about Hever. It's the whole county. I know I've got roots here (quite literally now!) but it's more than that. Getting this job may have been about being in the right place at the right time. But if you ask me, that's Kent all over - wherever and whenever you come!
Catch Neil in the Hever Castle gardens - www.hevercastle.co.uk
